2020 PSAT: The Reading Test - Less P and More SAT

The 2020 PSAT saw some substantial changes! The Reading Test looked much less like previous PSATs and must more like the current iteration of the SAT.

WHAT STAYED THE SAME

(1) Previous PSATs included more questions that told the student where in the passage they could find the answer as compared to the SAT. This did not change.

(2) Previous PSATs included fewer questions that require the student to compare to passages as compared to the PSAT. This too did not change.

(3) PSATs continue to have, on average, the same number of Main Idea questions as the SAT.

WHAT CHANGED

(4) A hallmark of the PSAT Reading Test is that it typically has fewer (proportionally - as the PSAT only has 47 questions compared to the SAT’s 52 questions) questions where a student must hunt down the answer in the passage. As we have noted HERE, these have become the most important question type of the SAT Reading Test, as the test has evolved, save the October 2020 Test.

In this way - it appears that the College Board not only mixed up the October 2020 SAT Reading Test, but also the October 2020 PSAT.

TAKE AWAY

Those prepared for the SAT (with high #s of questions that do not include a line reference) would have been well prepped for the 2020 PSAT! The October SAT & PSAT Reading Tests run counter to well established test trends. We will need to keep a careful eye on these changes for potentially significant strategy modifications for each test!