Story by Megan Garcia
Staff Writer
Bishop Amat High School sophomores and juniors looked nervously at the scores from the PSAT when they were handed out on Jan. 13.
In late October, 10th and 11th graders sat in their homerooms in a four-hour session of writing, reading, math, and bubble-filling.
During the week of the PSAT, teachers gave students helpful tips for the test. Try and get enough sleep the night before, have a big breakfast the day of, and use the process of elimination.
“Eliminating the bad answer choices is extremely important,” English teacher Mr. Ray Rodriguez said. “It’s always best to eliminate the bad answer choices and then you have a better percentage of guessing the right answer.”
This advice helped students in narrowing down the given answers it did not ease the nerves for others.
“I only used the elimination rule on reading, but I had forgotten about it [because of my nerves],” said sophomore Jessica Lujan.
PSAT results at Amat have gone up from the previous year.
“I would say [the results] this year has been better,” PSAT coordinator Mrs.Teresa Bonnville said.
Mrs. Bonnville organized the test date, ordered the test booklets and scantrons, sent the test to College Board, received the results and organized the day for students to receive their scores.
Juniors improved on their 2010 test results. They also scored better than the class of 2012 scored last school year.
The sophomores, taking the first time, scored better than the class of 2013 did last year.
Mrs. Bonneville said juniors generally do better on the PSAT than sophomores because they have one extra year of practice.
That trend did not change this year.
Sophomores tend to either be nervous on the day of the test or not care, which results in lower scores and, for some, an eye-opening moment, Mrs. Bonneville said.
Sophomore Gabriel Flores was not satisfied with his scores.
“I felt I could have done better,” Flores said.
As a school, Bishop Amat’s scores were average.
“We’re pretty much on par with a lot of the nation when you compare it with the nation, but I would love to see us get higher than that,” Mrs. Bonnville said.
Fortunately for those who did not score well and wish to do better there are websites, books and courses that can be accessed to receive more practice and testing skills.
Online
