Stuyvesant’s PSAT Administration for Sophomores

Stuyvesant administered the PSAT/NMSQT to sophomore students on October 1 and 2. Students with last names beginning with the letters A - L took the test on October 1, while those with last names beginning with the letters M - Z took it on October 2. All sophomores could take the test for free without having to register and were given school-configured devices to do so. 

In contrast to administering the exam over the weekend, Stuyvesant administration dedicated two weekdays for the PSAT this year. “The PSAT 8/9, PSAT10, PSAT/NMSQT, and SAT are all in the same suite, called the SAT suite,” Assistant Principal of Organization Dr. Gary Haber said. “We were told by College Board we would not have any [weekends] in the fall semester for [any of those tests].”

Furthermore, certain scheduling factors drove administrators to move the PSAT to the fall semester, though it had traditionally taken place during the spring. “We noticed that the fall term actually has more instructional days than the spring term. And we have the Regents in January and AP exams all of May,” Dr. Haber said. 

In the process of rescheduling the exam, the school was forced to administer the PSAT/NMSQT to sophomores instead of the slightly easier PSAT10. Sophomores who took the exam will not qualify for the National Merit Scholarship this year. “It is possible we will see small differences in scores since sophomores tested in March had a few more months of instruction and maturity,” college counselor Alison Kleinman said in an email interview. “But since tenth grade exams are purely for information—they do not get seen by anyone other than the student and don’t lead to anything of meaning—it doesn't really matter either way.”

As a result of uncertainties that the two-day format posed, some students showed up to their testing room on the wrong day. “I also saw people showing up on the wrong day because the email format was unclear. It should have been told to them in person during a homeroom period,” sophomore Jayden Shan said. 

Following the PSAT/NMSQT, all students followed a special bell schedule. This schedule started at 12:54 p.m. and ended at 2:50 p.m., with periods being 20 minutes long. Students attended their classes for periods one through five on October 1 and attended classes for periods six through 10 on October 2. 

In previous years, the shortened bell schedule on PSAT days allotted seven minutes for each class, with all 10 periods taking place on one school day. Some students prefer the former schedule to the current one, because it gave them a break from Stuyvesant’s rigorous and fast-paced curriculum. “I prefer the eight minute periods because the teachers do a short activity during the sessions, and it [would have] allowed me to take a break and debrief after the PSAT,” Shan said. 

In fact, many sophomores felt that it was generally unnecessary to attend class after the exam, regardless of the length of instructional periods. “I don’t think there should have been a shortened schedule. I think we should have just been able to go home after a long day of the PSAT,” sophomore Brandon Kye said.

Some students also do not feel that it is worthwhile to travel to school for just five abbreviated periods of class. “Some people’s commute times are longer than the instructional periods themselves, which make it inconvenient for students like me to come into school,” Shan said. 

Though the administration is currently looking for ways to make the special bell schedule more engaging, they urge students to remember that instructional time is mandatory. “If you ever wonder why we have these days, it’s because we have to. It’s a New York State requirement [for] how many days we must hold classes,” Dr. Haber said. “Instructional time is what matters. We try to maximize instructional time.”