College Readiness Exams

Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT)

Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) is a program co-sponsored by the College Board and National Merit Scholarship Corporation. The Preliminary SAT (PSAT) is published by The College Board as a practice instrument for students planning to take the SAT. Eleventh grade students taking the PSAT/NMSQT may be eligible to compete for National Merit Scholarships based on their PSAT score.

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SAT

The SAT assesses evidence-based reading and writing (ERW) skills and mathematical reasoning skills students have developed over time and that they need to be successful academically. SAT scores may be used as a tool to predict the academic performance of individual students in college-level classes. Because SAT scores are statistically controlled to maintain the same meaning from year to year, and because SAT-taker population is relatively stable from year to year, this report can be used to interpret SAT scores of individual students within the broader context of data; aggregate scores across groups of college-bound seniors; study changes over time in the characteristics of students taking the SAT; look at year-to-year educational and demographic changes in this population, along with changes in test performance.

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ACT

The ACT Assessment is designed to assess understanding and higher-order thinking skills in English, Mathematics, Reading, and Science Reasoning. The ACT reflects students' skills and achievement levels as products of their high school experiences and serves as a measure of their preparation for academic coursework beyond high school.

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Advanced Placement (AP) Exams

The Advanced Placement (AP) program is designed to provide students with opportunities to earn college or postsecondary credit and/or to determine appropriate placement in postsecondary programs. The College Board sponsors the AP program with technical operational services provided by Educational Testing Services (ETS). Scores on AP exams range from 1 to 5, with a "5" indicating that the examinee is "extremely well qualified." A score of "3" or higher is usually considered to be a qualifying score on the exams.

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