The PSAT is a standardized test usually taken in 10th or 11th grade. The exam lasts just under three hours and tests your math and reading abilities. This year students in FCPS got to experience the digital format of the test for the first time ever and experienced some difficulty.

Many students, like myself, experienced troubles during testing. We had a long delay, and we  had to wait an hour to get into the test.

Hayfield Assessment Coach Emily Gregory had some things to say about the PSAT test. 

“Fairfax was not the only county that had the delay, other high schools in different counties also had the long delay, and some schools even had delays longer than us,” Gregory said.

Sadaf Wahedi is a Junior who is new at Hayfield. Wahedi has never taken the paper PSAT test. It was her first time taking the PSAT this year. Many students like Sadaf,she liked the math portion of the test, but they didn’t like reading. According to them, they say that the reading was boring and made them sleepy.

“To be honest it was my first time when I took the PSAT test. The math was easy, but the reading one was hard. I also didn’t know that the PSAT will be online this year,” Wahedi said. 

Amy Ota is a high school English teacher. When she took the PSAT, it was a long time ago and took a lot of time. Her PSAT test had more sections compared to the online test as well.

“I took the paper version a long time ago. I definitely remember it being very long and just seemed like so many sections,” Ota said. “My understanding is that the digital test is a little shorter.” 

Students say that they like the digital one better because it is shorter and does not take as much time.

“I gotta say that the digital one was pretty nice because you didn’t have to read as much,” junior Emma Hering said. 

Emma Hering has taken both versions of the PSAT test and she favors the digital version. 

“The digital had easier questions I’m pretty sure, because I was going through them and they didn’t seem as difficult to answer. I guess maybe it was because I was kinda grown from the paper version of PSAT,” Hering  said.

 However there are some mixed opinions of the PSAT as well, as there are both pros and cons for both the digital and paper version of the test. 

“The pros are that you can kind of move at your own pace, so you are not having to wait for anybody else. I think the cons are sometimes really easy to kind of skip over stuff, so you might miss the instruction from the teacher if you are not listening,” English teacher Brian Hannon said.

The comparison between the online and paper version of the PSAT test presents a crucial examination of modern testing mode. While each mode of assessment presents its unique set of advantages and challenges. Yet both formats might be the key allowing for specially made assessments that help diverse learning styles.