2020 PSAT: The Reading Test - Less P and More SAT

2020 PSAT: The Reading Test - Less P and More SAT

The 2020 PSAT saw some substantial changes! The Reading Test looked much less like previous PSATs and must more like the current iteration of the SAT.

WHAT STAYED THE SAME

(1) Previous PSATs included more questions that told the student where in the passage they could find the answer as compared to the SAT. This did not change.

(2) Previous PSATs included fewer questions that require the student to compare to passages as compared to the PSAT. This too did not change.

(3) PSATs continue to have, on average, the same number of Main Idea questions as the SAT.

WHAT CHANGED

(4) A hallmark of the PSAT Reading Test is that it typically has fewer (proportionally - as the PSAT only has 47 questions compared to the SAT’s 52 questions) questions where a student must hunt down the answer in the passage. As we have noted HERE, these have become the most important question type of the SAT Reading Test, as the test has evolved, save the October 2020 Test.

In this way - it appears that the College Board not only mixed up the October 2020 SAT Reading Test, but also the October 2020 PSAT.

TAKE AWAY

Those prepared for the SAT (with high #s of questions that do not include a line reference) would have been well prepped for the 2020 PSAT! The October SAT & PSAT Reading Tests run counter to well established test trends. We will need to keep a careful eye on these changes for potentially significant strategy modifications for each test!

The October SAT Writing Test - How it matches up!

On the whole there are no huge changes on the October Writing Test.

However, there are a few small tweaks …

Compared to the average of the 10 Official Tests in the College Board Book/available online (#2 & 4), the October Test had

• 2 more punctuation questions - matching a growing importance placed on punctuation

• 1 more grammar question (consistently of plural vs singular or verb tense)

• 1 more graphic question

• 0 - we call them grab bag questions — those questions that test grammar rules - but rarely (e.g. subject vs. object pronouns or idioms)

• 3 questions that ask about main ideas of paragraphs and/or passages; this question is a newly emerging trend.

On the whole there were no great changes - but rather some minor shifts.

The October SAT Reading Test

The October SAT Reading Test had no major surprises:

1. Questions that ask about details in the passage, but you have to search for them remained outsized, matching their growing significance.

2. Evidence, line reference, main idea, and graphic questions remained consistent.