Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Welcome to Learning by Design podcast. I'm your host, Krishna Kart.
[00:00:05] And in this podcast, we explore innovative ideas, actionable strategies, and inspiring stories to transform education and workforce development.
[00:00:17] So whether you're a parent supporting your child's academic success and educator shaping future leaders, or or a business leader seeking impactful learning solutions, this podcast delivers expert insights and tools to empower every learner and leader. So from personalized tutoring and curriculum design to professional development and workforce training, we guide you in crafting meaningful learning experiences that drive growth, inspire innovation, and create lasting success. Tune in and discover how to engage minds, educate hearts, and empower futures in every learning journey. So in today's episode of Learning by Design, we'll be diving deep into the National Merit Scholarship program. Whether you're a student aiming for this prestigious award or a parent supporting your child's academic journey, this episode is packed with valuable insights, tips, and resources to guide you. Okay, so let's get started. Okay, so for those of you who don't know me. Well, majority of you probably don't know me, but I'm Krishna Kart. I'm the founder and CEO of the Masterpiece Academy, and I'm currently doing my doctoral degree in curriculum and instruction at George Washington University. Prior to that, I had, you know, Harvard Learning Design and technology. And then before that, of course, I got my master's in literacy instruction reading education, and I've served as a literacy coach and reading specialist in public schools in both Loudoun and Fairfax counties. And I'm currently a national board certified teacher. And although I left public school system, I still in love with, I'm still passionate and I just still love education. I still like inspiring and motivating others. So here I am.
[00:02:16] So without further ado, we engage, educate and empower learners and leaders. So that's our goal. Engage, educate and empower. So this podcast is one of those things, one of those tools that we use to empower learners and leaders and families. And it's rooted on in Ephesians 2:10, for we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
[00:02:44] So our services, okay, so we do business to business, K12, curriculum development and instructional design. We also do coaching and professional development because I've served as a literacy coach and instructional coach in public school system. And now we have business to consumer, which is tutoring and test prep and after school enrichment, which is like stem.
[00:03:08] If you look at some of my previous podcasts, we talked about STEM and tutoring and test preparation.
[00:03:15] The Northern Virginia Magdalet High schools, Academies of Loudoun and Thomas Jefferson High School. Today we're going to dive into the National Merit Scholarship. But we need to figure out first what is the PSAT NMSQT and why it matters. So if you don't know what PSAT, it's Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test or Preliminary SAT. And it's given to 9th to 10th grade. In some states they give it give 9th. In some states they give 10. Depends on the school district. But everybody in the Nation takes a PSAT in 11th grade. Okay, so that's when the competition starts. Okay, so a qualifying test. PSAT is a qualifying test in junior that become. Makes it. How would I say, makes it very. The junior year, the 11th grade. That is the real PSAT. And that's basically a voluntary competition. It's not optional. All juniors, all school districts will test a psat. Okay, so it's a qualifying test. It's a standardized test administered by the College Board and sponsored by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation, the United States. Okay. By the way, this one, just like disclaimer, this is not endorsed by National Merit Scholarship or SAT College Board or PSAT College Board. This is just, you know, informational for our parents and families nationwide. Okay. And all the sources, the data that I'm going to talk to in this podcast is based on the National Merit Scholarship Guide for Students 2024. You can download it, you can just Google search it and then download it and then go straight to their website. It's packed with more information. The purpose of this podcast is just to help you digest it because it's a huge pack. So it's just to help you digest it and to help, you know, students digest it, make it much more simpler. That's it. So everything here came from that data and from that guide. Student guide. And they don't endorse us. It's just a disclaimer for copyright purposes. It's, you know, when I say National Merit Scholarship, it's copyrighted. The same thing with SAT and psat. So let's move on.
[00:05:39] Let's start with the basics. Why should you care about the PSAT?
[00:05:43] So key statistics and I'll read it. 1.3 million students take the PSAT NMSQT each year and 50,000 students earn some form of national merit recognition. Only 16,000 qualify as semi finalists and about 7,000 win scholarships. Some schools like University of Alabama and Texas A and M offer full rides to National Merit finalists by the end of the episode I want you to know your state's national merits cutoff score and plan and create a game plan on how to crash the psat. So in that way you got that, you know, your dream financial award, merit based award. Okay, so let's move on. So this is the timeline. This, this is a National Merit Scholarship timeline. So look at this slide. You can see October, fall. You, you know, juniors will take the psat. It's usually mid October and then January to March. You're basically kind of like waiting. But in my previous podcast I talked about strengthening your GPA and focusing your vision on like college and you know, college credentials. So while waiting for the results, focus on extracurricular activities, college credentials and increasing your gpa. I cannot emphasize it enough, but you really need to increase your GPA because it matters so much.
[00:07:16] And then April, that's when National Merit Scholarship Corporation sends a list of 50,000 or you know, high school high scorers to high schools for verification and recognition. And we'll talk about it later in the next slide. It's going to be a long slide.
[00:07:34] And then May to August, it's crucial period to work on extracurricular essays and gpa. You know, usually that's when the award will come, will come in. You will know the award in your basic senior year, one year March to, you know, March to around May. Okay? And then we'll talk about it later in the next slide. But for this one junior year, May to August, it's crucial to work on extracurricular activities. Your journaling, your STEM or credentials, volunteers, summer camps, internships, strengthening your writing skills for essays and obviously the gpa.
[00:08:13] Okay, so this slide you will see September to May. And then here we will discuss the journey from PSAT to scholarship. Okay? And the key points here you will see here in September, just refer to this slide. Approximately 1.6 million students take the PSAT MMSQT annually, serving as the initial screening for the National Merit Scholarship. And then there are stages of recognition. Recommended students you're talking about. This is like you took the SAT PSAT when you are in junior 11th grade. So you're talking about this one is now your senior year. Okay, so this is fall of your senior. So stages of recognition, commended students. Okay.
[00:09:06] More than Two thirds, about 34,000 students will be designated commended students. Okay? This is according to the 2024 guideline.
[00:09:18] I believe they went down from 2023. They will be named on the basis of a nationally applied selection index qualifying score that may vary from year to year.
[00:09:30] So from that semifinalist, around 16,000 students representing less than 1% of U.S. high school seniors are notified in early September of their senior year. Okay, and then how do you become a finalist? Finalist. Approximately 15,000 semifinalists advance to the finalist standing by meeting additional requirements. Okay. And then advancing to finalist status. You've got to maintain an outstanding academic record throughout high school. Obtain a recommendation from the school principal, Submit a detailed scholarship application, including an essay. That's why, you know, in my previous podcast, you really wanted to strengthen your writing skills starting from ninth grade, including an essay, information about extracurricular activities, awards and leadership positions. And then on top of that, you need to achieve SAT or ACT scores that confirm the PSAT NMSQT performance. And then from the pool of finalists, about half will be merit scholar awardees. So you can see it here. And then here. Now we're moving to March. So that was February. Okay. And then March some 6,870. Look at the bottom. National merit scholarships of three types. Approximately, you know, 710 special scholarships will be awarded in 2026 or basically your senior year.
[00:11:03] This combined 1,580. When I say combined, you can look at the slides and then you will see 710 and then plus 6, 8, 7, 0. So that's combined awards of about 7580. It's worth value of that. Combined awards are about $33 million. So you can see, you know, there's a lot out there. And all you have to do is really focus and increase your, you know, your academic standing. Just make take your academics seriously. So there will be different types of scholarships. You will see March to maybe, but no student can receive more than one monetary award. So there will be types of scholarship that will be offered and these are the categories. So each company, university and colleges has different requirements, but they all want your gpa, your extracurricular activities, your extra credentials and essays. Very strong. So March to May, the news and media, there will be a news release and it will be advertised, it will be broadcasted. You will hear it from your district, if your name is there, from your school. You know everything because everybody is proud maybe in state, if you are in top 10 in the states or so. So these are the types of awards that we will discuss. In the next slide we will discuss National Merit or corporate. Another type of award is corporate sponsored merit scholarship. Another one is corporate sponsored special award scholarship. And then you have these college sponsored merit scholarships. Okay. And that's the one that we will discuss in this slide. The Types of scholarships. Okay, so by the way, before we discuss that type of scholarship, this QR code on top, it's you know, the high school code. It's basically the landing page of our high school website. Where you can see all the test preparation that we offer and then tutoring that we offer. Just in case you have difficulty at some point in one of your AP classes and you just need a boost whether it's in homework or test preparation. You know, feel free to contact us because we can always work it out based on your schedule and our teacher's schedule. We are a team of state licensed teachers and curriculum developers and instructional designers. They are my classmates from Harvard, Learning Design and Tech at GWU and gmu. Okay, so the types of scholarships. Okay, we have four types. We've got, you know, the National Merit. It's not we, it's basically the National Merit Scholarships. National Merit, Corporate sponsored merit scholarship, corporate sponsored special scholarships and college sponsored merit based. Okay, so key points. Okay, let's go back first to the National Merit Scholars. So national merit it's 2,500 scholarships awarded on a state representational basis. Meaning the number of scholars per state is proportional to the number of graduating seniors. Selection is based on academic performance, that's gpa. Again, extracurricular activities. There you go. That's you know, leadership and an application essay. See, there's always an essay there. Family financial background and intended college major do not affect selection. Okay, so that's it for the National Merit.
[00:14:34] Let's go to the number two. Corporate sponsored merit. Okay, so overview of that is it's available to finalists who meet specific corporate sponsor requirements. So like for example if you're children of employees, residents of certain communities or students pursuing a specific career fields. Some awards are one time payments while others renew annually. So large corporations like Google, Boeing and ATAT sponsor these awards. And awards range from 2,500 to 10,000 per year. And of course it varies every year depending on what the corporations would like to give. And then corporate sponsored scholarships. These are it's number three in this slide. It's high performing program participants. It's. It's for those participants, although not finalists. So even though you're not finalist, it's high performing program participants who meet the sponsors criteria. Most are for children of employees or residents of specific communities. So each corporation check with your counselor. This is the reason why you always want to go back to your school counselor. Because local businesses in your area usually communicate to your district and then from the district down to the counselors always make sure to get in touch with the counselors. And sometimes even though you're not a finalist or semifinalist, but you know, if your parents are employees of that special corporation who gives special awards, then you know, you might qualify. But the bottom line is you still have to, you know, focus on your academics, GPAs, extracurricular activities and definitely essays. All of those boil down to that. Okay, and then another one college, the last one is college sponsored merit scholarships.
[00:16:31] These are partner colleges that award scholarships to students who designate their institution as their first choice. With the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. Awards typically range from 500 to full ride scholarships. So you want this one right? At certain universities. So examples of some generous universities out there. University of Alabama. So it's full tuition, housing and stipend. Texas A and M, it's 40,000 over four years. University of Florida, full in state tuition and stipend. So you know, my two sons, they got, you know my youngest son got an award from uva, but of course he did not go there. He went to Stanford. It's full ride. Technically I'm not gonna pay anything. And of course we're a resident of Virginia as well. But you know, because he has high PS 80, he, he qualified in the, it's one of those top one in the states. And then another one is he got a full rights. Well you the highest presidential award in Carnegie Mellon when he applied there in computer science. Okay, so it helps. And of course at TJ he got straight A's, his lowest grade is A minus. So he's really a geek and I'm proud of him. Anyway, so let's move on. Selection index. So when you say selection index, how does your PSAT score turn into a national Merit scholarship Selection index? Okay, so let's break it down. Okay, so selection index is basically the formula that the national merits, you know, NMSEC to select the top 1% per state. Usually the selection index vary per state and they vary year to year. Okay. There's no way you can, you know, predetermine it or guess it. I know some, some of the blogs out there they put like this is, might be the possible, you know, score or selection index in the state of blah blah blah. But it's really every year. There's like different students every year and you get scores differently every year. So there's no way you can predict. Okay, so here that's the formula. You have to multiply by two your reading and writing and reading, writing and math. You have basically have to add them together and then multiply by 2 and then divide it by 10. That's the selection index. Okay. So that's the easy formula. Okay. So the PSAT NMSQT selection index is calculated using a student section scores and in that format. So unlike the SAT or act, National Merit cutoff scores vary by state and change each year based on students performance. So how it works? Well, the top 1% of scores of scores in each state qualify as semifinalists. So if you just qualify like in the top 1%, it's already like huge blessing and a huge honor. You will see your names kind of like my two sons. You will see your names like, you know, you will receive certificate from the district and from the, from your governor. Okay. Cutoffs are higher in competitive states like, you know, New Jersey, Massachusetts, you know, so every year they change. I will together with this podcast, we will publish a blog and then I will put there the state selection index per state. Last year when this PSAT became digitized digital. So it varies per state because again, they will need to choose the percentage of students per state.
[00:20:10] Okay, so now let's talk about some myths. Okay. Busting common myths. Okay. About National Merit selection.
[00:20:22] Myth number one, I need a perfect score to qualify.
[00:20:29] Well, the National Merit semifinalists score between 215 to 225. And then if you look at the selection index, it's basically that range, okay. Depending on their state. That's just basically the range. Myth number two, Math is more important than reading and writing.
[00:20:53] So reading and writing is actually weighted twice as much.
[00:20:59] Yeah. And then myth number three, Only geniuses qualify for National Merit. The, the right study strategy, smart strategy.
[00:21:09] You just have to crush it and figure out, you know, get mentorship from expert teachers like us, okay. From expert coaches and from, you know, because of course we're teachers and someone who knows you and you know, knows you, your learning style and you know, crash it and then develop a strategy and then, you know, discipline. So that's it. Yeah. So let's go back to that stage, to that selection index. You have to multiply the reading and writing and then you've got to add the math and then divide it by 10. Okay. So that's the selection index. Okay. And strategies. These are the QR codes, PSAT and SAT classes that we have on our website. So if you scan that, it will lead you to directly to the schedule of classes that we have for SAT and psa. And again, it's always good to start early. So we're going to go on, move on to strategies to Boost your selection index score. So if your selection index is not quite where you need it to be, or if you're not happy with your, you know, with your practice PSAT in 9th and 10th grade, then definitely that's the reason why if it's offered PSAT or 10th grade PSAT is offered in your school or your district, then you know, that's a good starting point. So in that way you can zoom in on which type of questions you're having struggle with. And it's much more personalized. That's basically the way we do it. We look at, you know, your previous scores, your history. So in that way we can get a better glimpse of how we can help you more. I need to develop high impact study plan, enroll in our classes.
[00:22:50] You got to focus on reading and writing first. And since it's worth twice as much, this is where you can improve the fastest. And then you've got to master, you know, algebra, advanced math, all of those components of psat.
[00:23:05] And we will talk about it in the next segment.
[00:23:09] Yeah, and then take the official practice test.
[00:23:13] We use also Khan Academies. We have an account in Khan Academies and then we use their resources as well. And then you have blue book resources. So we use that alongside with our, the College Board's SAT study guide. We give it to our students as extra resource. So we use variety of resources and then we curate our own strategies. We look at the students, their scores from 9th grade if they have taken it 10th grade, or from their blue book if they have taken some practice tests. Well, Khan Academy has free. So if you don't want to enroll in classes, at least register yourself there in Khan Academy. And then if you plan to enroll with us, we will just give you a code so in that way you can be in our class. So again, those are, those are the resources that we use and it's available to you as well. And some districts also have free SAT and PSAT in their, you know, high school. So take advantage of those. And then if you need to boost up further your score, then, you know, that's a time when you wanted to enroll in test preparation classes like ours. But you know, start with what you have, start where you, where you have, where you are and then go from there.
[00:24:32] Districts especially, you know, rich districts like Loudoun county and Fairfax county, they have rich resources and they provide a lot. So make sure you take advantage of that. Okay. Before enrolling and that will give us also. And make sure you sign up in your bluebook. That will give us also a glimpse Kind of like a foundational view of your skills based on that if you do some practice tests. So start practicing. And again, if you like this podcast, make sure you share it. You like, you subscribe and share it with some other families so everybody could benefit from it. We're gonna move on to the next segment. Feel free to pause which is your guide content and strategies. So in this segment, so we just talked about how to, we talked about the national Merit scholarship corporations, you know, you know, type of scholarships. And I hope that with that previous segment you had, you know, it's enlightening for you and I hope that you like it and I hope that it inspires you to do well in your classes and do everything that you need to get the goal. I hope I get you motivated. So now we're going to move on to how to boost your score. But before that, you cannot boost your score if you don't know what's being tested in psat. So that's basically what this is all about. So without further ado, let's see if I can. So this segment is entitled Master the psat, your guide to content and strategies. So I'm just gonna discuss what's new. This is basically the PS80 became digital in 2024. Okay, so you will see here because I know majority of you probably have seen even in Khan Academy there are some practices there that's like based on the old PS80 when it's not digital yet. So that's why it's very important to figure out which one, one is new and which one is old. It's not gonna hurt you if you practice those old practice tests. But it's just different format, okay. And from our perspective we adapt to the changes. So if it change then we reformat our types of questions and then types of the strategies because definitely content format test taking strategies will change if the format has changed. So that's the one that we will discuss today. What's new. So here you will see here, this is the linear and this is slide linear PSAT structure. And you will see reading and writing. There are two modules, there's 33 items per module and for each module is 39 minutes. For math it's 27 items per module. There's also two modules. So total of 54, you have 43 minutes in math per module.
[00:27:39] So when I say linear, these are the ones that you can download from the, from the College Board website. And then yeah, the one in your blue book that's kind of like the good format for the Digital one. Okay. And it's good because to practice digital. So it's really good to log into your bluebook and practice from there because it helps you with the test taking strategies. So we encourage you to practice on your bluebook. Okay, so this is the digital SAT structure. That's the one in Bluebook, by the way. The linear of course is not adaptive because it's pen and paper. And then part of the linear method, of course we do linear method as well in when we do strategies, we discuss it, we have a slides and then we discuss strategies for type of questions. And then we use the SAT College Board's, you know, the official SAT study guide as student textbooks. So we give it each one to each student. You know, it's embedded in the price. And then we also have a learning management system which is digital, kind of like mock the digital format of the current psat. Okay. So the linear helps you zoom in to the strategies because of course you still need to see it like in pen and paper method. And you know, you've got the tactile method of solving it there if it's math. And then, you know, you've got the tactile method of, you know, figuring out, you know, main ideas, key details and stuff like that. Okay, so we use both. But our diagnostic, midterms and finals are in house in our learning management system that kind of like. So that aligns with the digital mode of the SAT structure. Okay.
[00:29:31] So here in the digital SAT structure you can practice this by logging into Khan Academy. That's for free. We use it as well. And when you enroll with us, we will give you a code. And of course you need to practice this in your own blue book, which you have set up with your counselor in your, in your school district, okay. In your school building. So in Digital reading is 27 items, 54 per module. Okay.
[00:30:00] For both modules A and B or modules one and two. And you know, it's 32 minutes each, so it's 64 minutes in total. Math is 22 items per module. Okay? So combined modules of 44 items and you know, 35 minutes each. And so total it's 70 minutes.
[00:30:24] So the reason why you have module one and module two, you can see in this slide, so it's basically module one.
[00:30:31] You see the reds, the yellows and the greens here in this slide you will see that it's basically divided into easy, average and difficult questions. It's equally divided. But when you go to module two, that's the reason why it's called adaptive it's basically the algorithm will break it down for you. So if you answered majority of, you know, hard questions, then you will get, it will adjust based on the type of questions that you answer. Okay. Now if you ask us how it's scored, well, it's algorithm, so no one can really guess. You might see some blogs there out there how to guess it. But instead of focusing on how it scored, why don't you just focus on how to answer medium and, you know, difficult questions or average and difficult questions. So that's what we tell our students. But that's the way a digital works. That's the way algorithm works. It adjusts, okay, adaptive. So they have gazillions of questions out there. So everybody will get different questions. Everyone will get different questions when they get to module two. So that's in mode in both reading and writing and then math, okay. It's adaptive in digital. So it's very crucial that you practice in your blue book and then in the class we will help you distinguish which one is, you know, easy, average and then difficult. That's something that you can, that we will discuss in the class to become digital way back in 2024. So this is the second year that it's digital and again can tell you enough. But you've got to practice on your blue book because it's test taking skills. And then in the blue book, if you practice there, one of the things that is part of the test taking skills, you've got the testing timer, okay. You've got, you know, the review button or kind of like the bookmark or something. And then you've got a reference sheet, you've got, you know, the calculator embedded there and then annotations are there. So it's always good to combine the bluebook. And when you attend our classes you still have to, you know, you need to have access to those, make sure you have your computer because you need to access your bluebook. And then our learning management system and then Khan Academy. And then you also get that SAT official SAT study guide. Okay. And of course you get our slides, PowerPoints and there's like individual student conference that happens in the class. So that's how we work. It's personalized based on where you needed it. Let's focus on the content of PSAT reading and writing. And it's the same thing in sat. So when I say content of this, it's the same thing in sat. It's just that SAT has a harder text level. Okay. So it's just a matter of text. Okay. So in psat, you will see, you will have a lot of genre. It's multidisciplinary. You will see readings from social studies and history. It's multidisciplinary. You will have passages from sciences, humanities and literature. And then there are poetries. And you know, poetries are hard, especially for some students, so. Because it's a different genre, you know, so that's what we, you know, that's why you need some teachers, especially if you don't like poetry.
[00:34:12] That's, that's not gonna, that's not gonna work, right? So you really need to figure out what type of questions are needed and then what type of, what type of format. Okay. And what level of poetry.
[00:34:27] You know, questions are in there. Okay. So those tiny details are crucial for you to score. Well, the type of questions. If you go here in the next slide, you will see that there are four types, major types of questions. These are umbrella questions, categories, but information and ideas of craft and structure, expression of ideas, and standard English conventions. Okay, so in each major category, think of it as an umbrella information and ideas, they are subdivided into some more subcategories which you will learn in our class. Not gonna discuss it here. It's overwhelming. But, you know, that's what we're gonna learn in each class. And then we have the type of questions that goes with it. Okay, so you will learn how to answer the different type of questions asked for each class subcategory. And then per category, does that make sense? And then we break down your scores, we analyze your scores based on those subcategories and categories and obviously the genre, because sometimes information and ideas in literature is different from information and ideas in social studies and sciences. So there's a lot more complexities than what you thought. That's what you want to think. So craft and structure, it's basically how you write. So majority of the students who are good in craft and structure are those who are good in writing.
[00:35:57] So it's how you write how the author basically composed the text. But again, this craft and structure, there are still some subcategories that are embedded here. And then you've got expression of ideas. Again, there are some more subcategories in expression of ideas. And then standard English conventions are grammars and. Yeah, and punctuations. So we've developed, we have curated self paced PSAT and SAT reading and writing. So if you are planning to sign up, like for example, during the year, if you wanted to sign up and then take your first SAT or PSAT and there are no classes or if you just don't want to be in a class, you can study it. And then the recorded materials, there are us, like I recorded SAT reading and writing. And then I discuss a lot of strategies, tiny strategies, you know, those subcategories that I was talking about. Okay. To help you with those questions. And every question is targeted. Every type of questions I kind of like, you know, targeted. That's the way I work with, you know, when I was a reading specialist and literacy coach. And that's the reason why I have National Board certification. So it's very deliberate. Okay. So that's the reason why I had that National Board. It's deliberate teaching. Okay. So the contents of this, the way it's broken down, the distribution, crafts and structures about 28%.
[00:37:28] Information and ideas is about 26%. English convention is about 26, expression of ideas is 20%. This is basically revising and editing. Expression of ideas. It's basically revising. And then English convention is basically editing. Craft and structure is the craftsmanship of the author, how he wrote it, how he wanted to convey his ideas, information and ideas. So those are just like, you know, the literal level of key ideas and details. But still, still needs to be broken down. Okay. In the class. And then the strategies are still broken down.
[00:38:03] Okay, so let's move on to the math. Okay, so the math section. So even though it's math, it's still. You will read passages from sciences, social science and real world topics. So it's basically applied math. And then you will solve problems on the situation. It's based on the passages. Yeah. And then these are the major categories.
[00:38:30] Algebra, advanced math, problem solving and data analysis and geometry and trigonometry. So again, algebra is a major category. So it's broken down into several subcategories. The same thing with advanced math, problem solving and data analysis and geometry and trigonometry. A good one to start is to sign up in Khan Academy and you know, you can just do it yourself. There are some videos there. The math portion is good. So I would start with that. And then again, some of you might have some resources that are for free from your school district. Make sure you avail of it. Anything that's free, avail of it. First, if you, of course, if you wanted to boost your score, that's when you wanted to join us. If you want to be in the National Merit Scholarship, if you wanted to score high. So that's when you join at. If you just wanted to pass. I think those free resources would Be good enough. But if you wanted to get into the top universities and then score high and get into the national merit, then you needed us. So the next one here is, this is the distribution of the PSAT math. So geometry and trigonometry, it is 15%. Data analysis is 15%, algebra is 15% and advanced math is, and advanced math is at 35%. So you know, you can see where you need to focus on. It's distributed. So I think that might help. Right. In terms of planning. Okay, so what's staying the same? The text complexities. And again, it's multidisciplinary command of evidence and textual command of evidence, textual and quantitative. It's still there. You will see graphs, you will see textual evidence. You need to just be on the lookout on, you know, how to read graphs and everything. So again, that's something that you will learn in our class as well if you haven't gotten a chance to develop it at your school building. And if you feel like, you know, need some strategies on that, that's where I recommend. It's good to know that there are still some vocabulary words, high utility words and phrases in context. While prepping for that, you might want to increase your vocabulary. So one way, one of the ways to increase your vocabulary is to keep on reading. Keep on reading high quality materials like journals and articles from say for example, National Geographic, like from federal government sites, you know, NASA, you know, that type of deal. Okay. And then like for example in social studies you will read whatever, like for example, kind of like in archives. So make sure you browse through that Library of Congress, there are some articles there. Make sure you familiarize yourself with those type of genre because those are the ones that will appear the most. And in poetry for sure, you're, you're doing it already in your school, but you know, those famous authors, American authors and some international authors will be, you will see it there and you will see it here.
[00:41:37] Revising and editing. So keep on reading and writing. That's one way to kind of score high. Because if you keep on reading and writing, doing reading and writing and then drafting, revising and editing, that will strengthen your test prep skills. Okay, so continue with that. So what's staying the same? You still have the math, the math problems in and out of context. That means it's applied math in context and then out of context. Sometimes it's just pure math. You still have some student produced responses in math where you have to fill in and then still obviously it's still multiple choice.
[00:42:14] Oh, by the way the reading passages, obviously from several paragraphs down to like two or three paragraphs, the reading and writing passages are shorter this time than the old one. Okay, so it's a good segue. Changing what's changing significantly? The passages are shorter, calculators are allowed, you get faster results and it's much more secure. So yeah. And again, our classes, we have SAT and PSAT in person, both here in Van Loudon. And we also have location in Fairfax, close to gmu, close to my class at gmu. Next, we have live online. So we have teachers who teach from different states. So if the in person classes won't work for your schedule, we can also accommodate some other students from different states who cannot come to our physical location. So we have live online classes and obviously we have self paced class. The PS 80 reading and writing is already developed. Some of the frequently asked questions are, will you be taking the. Do you want to take? And this is like moving forward in sat because it's the same format, SAT and psat. If you wanted to take SAT essay moving forward when you are going to college, when you apply in college, I would say go for it, take it. We have self paced class for that and we also have a class for just SAT essay. Okay, so let's move on to scoring. Okay, scoring. Okay, so in my previous podcast we talked about PS89. Okay, so this is the scoring for the PS89.
[00:44:07] The total score scaled score is 1, you know, 1 for 40. And then section score scales is 120 to 720. Okay, so the total score scaled score in PS89th grade is 240 to 1440. And then for the 10th grade and then 11th grade it's the same three hundred and twenty. And then 1520. And then the section score scales are from 160 to 760.
[00:44:39] And then the SAT, it's 400 to 1600. And then the section score scale score is 200 to 800. Okay, so again, if you have PSAT administered it in your school in 9th grade, take it, it's a great practice.
[00:44:59] But don't take it without practicing yourself. The reason why they're giving it is for you to start harnessing your skills and then have a goal for yourself on how to increase your score. Because increasing your score will help in college application and scholarships. As you can see in my previous podcast, PS8010. Devin, PS80 11 NMSQT for 11th grade, that's the real deal. So PS89 and PS8010, those are just practice tests. That won't be in your records. But the PSAT NMSQT 11th, the one that you take in your junior year, that's the one that will be on your record. And all the SAT and ACT tests that you took, you know, after, during your junior year onwards. Okay. In, you know, fourth year high school. Okay. By the way, you can qualify for talking about this for middle schoolers. When my two sons were in middle schools, they took sat. And majority of our students have taken SAT when they were in middle school. You're only allowed to take SAT and PSAT in middle school if you're applying for, you know, gifted programs like Johns Hopkins center for Talented Youth. These are programs for gifted students students and their qualifying tests are SATs and ACTs. So if you have middle schoolers, one way to kind of like practice for PSAT and SAT is to have them take it when they were still in middle school. And then from there, of course that's going to be their credentials. And then from there you can, you know, check Stanford epg. There's like for every region there are like gifted centers. And then majority of the qualifying tests are sats and PSATs. Okay. So that's one way to apply to kind of like practice for that. And the good thing about applying in these gifted centers, it's basically once you qualify, you will get an award. You'll go to a ceremony kind of like in center for Talented Youth in Johns Hopkins. That's in our area because it's only in Maryland. And of course they will receive their certificates and it's awarded, it's broadcasted. Yeah. So that's a great practice. And that will be in their credentials in middle school. And that will give them a kind of like a heads up in internships and scholarships. Like my two sons, they went to Baylor College when they were in high school and because even in middle school they went to some other like Virginia uva. It's outreach and it's for free. Just because they have this. Yeah. So that helps a lot to build your credentials. Okay, so more tips. We have stem. This is a QR code for our STEM classes.
[00:47:55] Make sure you check it out. And majority of our STEM classes are meant for competitions. We train for math counts for robotics, so be sure to check it out if you are in the area. If you're not in the area, we will figure it out too. Basically, math counts. You might be able to participate, but probably the robotics one, we have game design. You can participate there live online. Online. Our classrooms here in one Loudon in Venture X is we can do hybrid. We can have in person students. And then, you know, we also have a conference camera. I've done that in academies of Loudon and TJ Test Prep. It's hybrid. We have conference cameras. So you can, everybody can participate. And those for those who are traveling during the summer, if you missed one session or if you are away for that particular session, you can still participate online. So we're trying to accommodate everybody's needs and everybody's situations. So check it out. Okay. Stem one way.
[00:48:55] And of course, this is our PSAT and SAT landing pages, those QR codes. Start reviewing for now. And this is our contact number. This is our slide. That 571485, 0934. That's a cell phone. You can call or text. And that's our headquarters in One Loudon. We are located right here in beautiful One Loudon, 679 Endicott Drive, Suite 341. So after school, the building get locked. Gets locked. But you know, and that's our email, so feel free to contact us. And yeah, if you like this podcast, Learning by Design. Make sure you subscribe you like and share it with some other parents and families. And again, our goal is to engage, educate and empower learners and leaders. Thank you so much and bye for now.
