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Fall 2026 Digital PSAT Testing for 8^th and 11^th Grades�Underlined items in blue can be selected to go to informational sites

11^th Graders taking the optional PSAT/NMSQT digital test must turn in permission slips and payment by Monday September 15^th. Test day is Thursday October 14th.

All 8^th grade will be taking the PSAT 8 on Thursday October 7th. There is no fee.

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October Test Day schedules for 8^th and 11^th grade only

Testing will begin at the start of the school day and should be complete by the end of 3^rd hour.

Room rosters will be posted on the cafeteria windows 1 week before test day.

Thursday October 7 – 8^th grade PSAT 8 testing in the 8^th grade classrooms

Makeups October 28th
There is no fee to take the PSAT 8 this fall. All 8^th grade will take the test.

Thursday October 15th– 11^th Grade Optional PSAT/NMSQT

This is a PSAT10 level test that also enters you into the National Merit Scholarship competition. 11th graders often opt to take the PSAT/NMSQT in the fall as an extra practice before your Spring 2026 SAT test at Almont High School. The status update on their test scores will be helpful practice for your spring test.
Makeup for the 11th grade PSAT/NMSQT will be Tuesday October 27th.
Permission slips are available from your ELA teacher or in the counseling office.
The cost of the test is $20. There is no fee for Free or Reduced Lunch students.
Students must sign up by returning a permission slip by September 14^th to the counseling office.

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Future testing in the Spring at Almont High School

11th Grade Tests in April 2027

The following 3 tests are required by the state of Michigan for all 11th graders and are given in April.

Information from these tests are put on transcripts as required by state law.

SAT is a college entrance test – Digital Test
WIN test is a skills assessment. This is not typically used for college entrance, but can be used for job skills assessments for employment beyond high school. (THIS TEST WILL REPLACE THE WORKKEYS TEST. Since this test is new, more information will be shared as we receive it.)
M-Step for 11th grade is a test given by the Michigan Department of Education to evaluate Science and Social Studies. It is a Digital test

8^th, 9th and 10th Grade Tests – Digital, April 2027

PSAT 8, 9 and PSAT 10 are grade level SAT tests which are also made available to schools by the Michigan Department of Education for testing in April.
These scores are not posted on student transcripts.

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Almont High School Spring 2026 Testing - Makeup Dates are Tentative
Test	Date(s)	Makeup Date(s)
11th Grade SAT with Essay - Digital WIN Digital Test - Work Skills Assessment M-Step Science and Social Studies - Digital	Tuesday, April 13 Thursday, April 15 Tuesday April 20	Tentative Window: 4/17,4/20 and 4/22, 4/24. More dates to be determined, as needed.
10th Grade - PSAT 10 - Digital	Thursday, April 15	Tentative Window: 4/17,4/20 and 4/22, 4/24. More dates to be determined, as needed.
9th Grade - PSAT 8/9 - Digital	Thursday, April 15	Tentative Window: 4/17,4/20 and 4/22, 4/24. More dates to be determined, as needed.
8^th Grade - PSAT 8/9 – Digital MSTEP - Science and Social Studies	Tuesday, April 13 To Be Determined end of April, Beginning of May	Tentative Window: 4/17,4/20 and 4/22, 4/24. More dates to be determined, as needed.

Spring 2027 Test Dates at Almont High School

All SAT and PSAT tests will be digital on Chromebooks

Tests are given during the school day. More information will be given in the spring.

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8^TH GRADE

Watch this video, to know what to expect on the digital PSAT 8/9 Test. What to expect with the digital PSAT 8/9

11^TH GRADE

Remote Parent Night offered by CollegeBoard - sign up if you like for this Sept 25th 8 pm Opportunity to learn more about the NMSQT/PSAT test

https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/dates/psatnmsqt-parent-night-demystifying-test

Watch this video if you're planning to take the digital PSAT/NMSQT. The video highlights what you should expect on test day.

What to expect with the digital PSAT/NMSQT

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Student Guides

SAT School Day Student Guide – 11 ^th and 12 ^th Grade Information about SAT School Day, sample test materials, and test-taking advice and tips.

PSAT/NMSQT Student Guide – 11 ^th Grade Information about the PSAT/NMSQT, with test-taking advice and sample test materials, privacy policies, and terms and conditions. It also includes a separate section with information about the National Merit Scholarship Program.

PSAT 8/9 Student Guide – 8 ^th and 9 ^th Grade Information about the PSAT 8/9, including test-taking advice, sample test materials, privacy policies, and Testing Rules.

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Digital SAT Suite: Test Specifications

Reading and Writing Section

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Digital SAT Suite: Test Specifications

Math Section

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Students will take the digital SAT on a custom-built digital exam application.

If the internet disconnects during testing, students will still be able to progress through the test with no disruption.

If a student’s device runs out of battery, they can simply plug in, restart their device, and pick up where they left off—all their work will be saved, and they won’t lose testing time.

Bluebook automatically locks out other programs to ensure students cannot cheat.

Students are timed individually. If their start times are slightly staggered, their breaks and end times will be too.

The testing app will be loaded on your chromebook!

There will be readiness check prior to your testing date; watch your email.

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Students will take the digital SAT on a custom-built digital exam application.

https://bluebook.app.collegeboard.org

Along with access to full-length digital SAT practice tests and test preview, Bluebook provides all students with the following tools during testing:

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Testing Timer: A timer will let you know how much time is remaining in each parof the test. You can hide it until 5 minutes remain, then you’ll get an alert.

Calculator: For tests with math questions, the app has a built-in calculator. You can drag it anywhere on the screen.

Reference Sheet: A reference sheet with commonly used formulas will appear on all tests with math questions.

Annotate: Use the annotate tool to highlight text from a question or leave yourself a note.

Mark for Review: Use the bookmark icon to flag any question you want to come back to.

Option Eliminator: Cross out answer choices you think are wrong. You can undo this if you change your mind.

Question Menu: See which questions you skipped or marked for review, and navigate to any question in the section.

Zoom: Use keyboard shortcuts on laptops or pinch and zoom on tablets to get a closer look at any part of the question.

While some accommodations may be administered differently on digital tests than on paper and pencil tests, we’ll continue to support all students who require accommodations for testing

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Multi-Stage Adaptive Testing (MST)

Shorter tests with same level of rigor and validity
Questions tailored to students’ performance
Allows students to navigate among questions within a module
Individual forms for more secure and flexible testing.
Tolerates disruptions in internet connectivity or power.
There will be 2 modules in each section of ELA and Math
Module 1 will use questions to assess your level
Module 2 will be geared to your level of questions based on Module 1.
It is really important to do your best on Module 1 to improve your score and get your highest level of questions on Module 2. Both of these items can improve your score.

The digital SAT Suite will utilize a multistage adaptive testing (MST) methodology. In a multistage adaptive SAT Suite test, each test section (Reading and Writing; Math) is divided into two equal-length and separately timed stages, each composed of a module of questions.

Based on all the information we have shared, here is a concise list of multistage adaptive testing benefits. First and foremost, it results in shorter tests that retain the precision and reliability of longer (linear) tests. This is because question difficulty in the second stage of each section is based on student performance in the first stage, resulting in a more efficient assessment.

Second, unlike in most question-by-question adaptive testing models, students can navigate freely through a given module’s questions, previewing upcoming questions or marking earlier questions to return to if they have time. This is because the content of each module is fixed, prior to testing rather than determined “in the moment” by the test delivery platform.

Finally, the use of a unique set of questions for each test taker significantly reduces test security risks and concerns. And because this content is set before test day, the demands the platform places on internet connectivity are significantly reduced. The test delivery platform tolerates momentary disruptions in connectivity and power. Students can simply reconnect or plug back in without loss of testing time or their work.

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Full Length Practice Exams

Videos, Articles,

Examples on What to Expect from the Digital SAT

Test Preview

https://satsuite.collegeboard.org/digital/digital-practice-preparation

Student Practice and Preparation

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Changing our delivery model from paper/pencil to digital is a big, exciting change – and a change that we are committed to supporting. We want to ensure that students are prepared for the digital SAT and are comfortable with using our new tools and services, so we will provide opportunities for students to get familiar with Bluebook by providing experiences with the app, testing tools, formula sheets, and calculators. We’ll also host 4 full-length practice exams on the same application that students will use on test day.

And in addition to supporting full-length practice exams in Bluebook, we are continuing to partner with Khan Academy for their talent and expertise in creating supporting instructional content focused on the digital SAT and in alignment with our digital SAT test specifications, knowledge domains and skills.

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Full-Length Practice Tests on Bluebook

Practice experience is the same as actual test experience.
No time lost.
Retakes are permitted.
Practice Test Review and Scores in My SAT.

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Full - length SAT practice is now available. Practice for In-School Assessments will be available later this spring.

Our goal is for students to experience the same test experience during practice as they will on test day. There will be timed sections, they can exit a practice exam and return to the exam without losing time and have access to the full set of test-taking tools. Students can also retake the practice exam as often as they like

We will offer an untimed preview for students who just want to get familiar with the tools, navigation and the layout of content. Once a practice test time runs out and the exam is submitted however, a student cannot return to the test and see the answers that they selected. The answers that the student selected will appear in their Practice Test Review from MySAT, which will be the same place where they can check for their score and reports.

Additionally, we will be providing linear, 4 full-length practice tests in pdf versions and there will be scoring guides with conversion tables provided to support students who opt not to practice Digital SAT content from Bluebook.

We’ll also launch a customizable question bank for practice drills will launch this winter

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You can take the SAT at other times outside of the April test at Almont. There will be a fee.

Click on this link to register for upcoming SAT test dates at other locations and find out fees:

https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/sat/register/dates-deadlines

If you take the SAT test multiple times, colleges will usually use your best composite score for entrance. GPA is also used for college entrance and often uses academic classes only to determine entrance. For example, PE classes would not be used for your college entrance GPA.

Students who meet college readiness benchmarks have a 50% chance of earning a B or better grade and a 75% chance of earning a C or better grade in a corresponding college course.

Register early to take the test at a location near you! Seats fill up fast!

Juniors and Seniors – You can take the SAT this fall at a test center with paper/pencil.

If you would like to test the SAT this fall, testing this fall will be paper pencil. Almont does not offer the SAT in the Fall, so you must register through your College Board account to test at a testing center. If you test after December, the test will be digital. Paper/pencil will not be available in the Spring unless you have an accommodation.

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PSAT/NMSQT for 11^th Grade

Structured similarly to the SAT, the PSAT/NMSQT (Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test) is given to 10th- or 11th-grade students and measures the same knowledge and skills students need to succeed in college and career.

The test is designed to help prepare students for the SAT, college, and careers. Historically, students who took the PSAT/NMSQT scored higher on the SAT, on average, than those who didn’t take the test.

Learn more at �https://satsuite.collegeboard.org/psat-nmsqt

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PSAT/NMSQT for 11^th Grade

Students who take the PSAT/NMSQT in 11th grade and meet other program entry requirements might qualify for the National Merit^® Scholarship Program, an academic competition for recognition and scholarships conducted by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC^®).
The PSAT/NMSQT is the only qualifying test for the National Merit Scholarship Program.
Taking the PSAT/NMSQT gives you the chance to access over $300 million in scholarship opportunities.
Students may also qualify for College Board National Recognition Programs.

National Merit Scholarship Program

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Interpreting the PSAT test scores.

Here is a link that will help you to understand your PSAT score.

Use your spring PSAT scores to see how close you are to the benchmark. If you are 10-20 points below the benchmark this means you are within one academic year of instruction to meet the benchmark. This can mean with some testing practice you have a good chance to meet the grade level benchmark.

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Your parents will have access to this powerpoint with an instant alert. Attached to the instant alert will be a registration form. Mrs. Blum, Ms. Halvorson, Mrs. Murphy, and the counseling office will have copies of this registration form if you are interested in signing up for this exam.

NOTE: The payment and registration Due Date is September 14 by 3 pm. No forms will be accepted after this date.

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Watch your emails� for more information! ��Thank You!

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