Sophomores and juniors at East took the PSAT, a precursor to the SAT, on Wednesday. The subjects of the the two tests are reading, writing, and math. The PSAT is taken to prepare not only for the SAT and future standardized tests, but also to improve college transcripts.

“I think the PSAT is a good way of seeing what it will be like to take the SAT and ACT. These tests are important because it is a large part of what colleges look at,” sophomore Dane Denniston said.

The PSAT is also known as the National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, or NMSQT. This past year, the 16,000 students that scored the highest when taking the NMSQT during their third year of high school became National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists, qualifying them for significant scholarship opportunities for college.

About 800 students in the nation were selected in 2014 to receive scholarships to completely pay for their college tuition, and approximately 700 were selected to receive $2,500 to put toward their college tuition.

Senior Maelyn Kiser was recognized as being a National Merit Scholarship finalist after she took the PSAT last year. Kiser recognized the benefits the PSAT gave when preparing to take the SAT, and also enjoyed the possible scholarship opportunities.

“There are many similarities between the PSAT and SAT, and the PSAT really helped me prepare for the SAT. It is also great that I may win money toward my college education,” Kiser said.

The PSAT is a very important part of any student’s’ high school career and is very beneficial to all students for a variety of reasons.