The PSAT is one of the assessments designed by the College Board in the United States. The test consists of a Reading, Writing and Language, and Math Test. It has two purposes. One, it helps students prepare for the SAT, which is used in the acceptance process in most U.S. and Canadian universities, much like ENEM is used in Brazil. Two, American students with the highest PSAT scores may qualify for the National Merit Scholarship Program. There is a close relationship between the SAT exam and ENEM in both the purpose and type of questioning used in the tests - preparing for one test helps boost performance on both. Students take the test in October each year.
Seventy-seven percent (43) of our Grade 11 students took the PSAT in 2016, with 19% (8) scoring in the 90th percentile or above. This means that they performed better than 90% of their peers who took the test in the US. Approximately 4 million students took the PSAT in 2016. Fifty-one percent (22) of Grade 11 students scored in the 70th Percentile or above. The highest score at Nations in 2016 was in the 99th percentile.
PSAT Results 2015 & 2016 Compared
The comparison group is students in Grades 10 and 11 in the US, most of whom prepare for this exam to enter colleges in the US. Most of our students who took the exam are not native English speakers nor planning to study abroad. Their results show that knowledge, skills and attitudes have no borders. They are ready to perform, without specialized training, to take and pass rigorous and competitive international exams.
We congratulate students and their teachers who have been striving for higher levels of academic rigor and achievement. Teachers are engaging in ongoing training and professional development to develop challenging unit plans and align their teaching and assessment in ways that target students' deeper understanding of concepts and content. The level of commitment to teaching and learning is reflected equally in both our national and international high school programs. The thinking skills needed to understand and interpret texts and information are common to both languages – the same goes for math skills. A cross-training effect is coming into play.