Last fall, Shorewood High School juniors had the opportunity to participate in the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test (PSAT), either to prepare for other standardized tests or for the chance to compete for the National Merit Scholarship.
Founded in 1955, the National Merit Scholarship Corporation looks to commend and encourage learning in youth. Approximately 16,000 of the 1.4 million juniors who take the PSAT each year are selected to be semifinalists based on their top scores and 8,000 students receive the National Merit Scholarship.
Scoring in the top 1% of the state of Wisconsin, Shorewood high school seniors Andrina Roberts, Maxwell Holifield, and Ritisha Dey were named semifinalists for the 2025 National Merit Scholarship Competition.
The National Merit program offers a wide variety of scholarships, making the PSAT a beneficial opportunity.
“It gives you a chance at a [huge] scholarship or a set of other corporate and school scholarships [that] can make a serious dent in the cost of college,” Holifield said.
Before becoming eligible for an award, semifinalists must complete a series of steps.
“If you get a high enough score then you become a semifinalist and you [have to] submit some application materials,” Holifield said.
From this pool of semifinalists, approximately 15,000 become finalists, of which around 8,000 receive an accolade. Receiving this merit scholarship is a great way to start collecting money for college.
While Andrina Roberts does not have a designated ‘dream school,’ she believes that the money will be useful to apply anywhere.
“The money would go towards college, [which] is really expensive in this day and age,” Roberts said.
Aside from its potential monetary value, the PSAT is useful in preparing for other standardized tests, such as the ACT, SAT, or AP exams.
“The main benefit of the PSAT is understanding how standardized tests work because every junior has to take the ACT in March, and it’s helpful to have already taken one standardized test,” Roberts said. “Then you know what you’re going into and it’s easier.
In general, the PSAT follows a similar format to the SAT. While the SAT is not a mandatory test, students who decide to take it may benefit by taking the PSAT prior.
“[The PSAT] is a good stepping stone [for] the SAT if you take that later,” Dey said. “Get to know the style of the test because if you prepare for the PSAT you’ll also be preparing for the SAT.”
Due to its benefits, Dey advises students to prepare for the PSAT as it can make a large difference in a score.
“I would definitely recommend preparation,” Dey said. “I took the PSAT when I was a sophomore and I didn’t do [as] well [because] I didn’t prepare for it. Then as a junior I prepared pretty well and I got a significant score increase.”
The PSAT consists of a Math and English section, much of which uses content from class.
“The level of math on the PSAT was not anything that you would have to take a college level class for, it was mostly algebra and geometry, so if you’re strong at [those] there’s no reason you can’t do well on the math section,” Roberts said. “As for the English section, it’s [mainly] about grammar rules and thinking critically.”
Taking a range of challenging classes is a large part of what helped Holifield score well.
“One of the biggest things that helped was [that] I had taken a bunch of AP tests sophomore year, so I had that test experience going into the PSAT,” Holifield said. “The AP multiple choice questions are a lot harder than most of the PSAT questions, so having that practice on something harder helps create a better performance on the PSAT.”
Aside from an advanced curriculum, exposure to all kinds of content can enhance results.
“Math competitions were a big help, and just read a lot,” Holifield said. “Exposing yourself to as much math and English as you can will help you read and solve problems faster.”
Regardless of a student’s dedication to preparing, each semifinalist said that the PSAT was worth it to take.
“It’s not expensive and you’re not losing anything by taking it,” Roberts said. “Don’t stress about it because it doesn’t really matter, just go into it with an open mind. [It’s] a great opportunity and you should take advantage of it, but your test scores don’t define who you are as a person.”