Stafford County schools took the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test (PSAT) on Oct. 12, 2022. Students take the PSAT as a trial run to prepare themselves for the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT.) Test dates for the SAT started as early as Aug. 27, 2022. Although, many students signed up for the Nov. 5 and Dec. 3 test dates.

These PSAT scores are vital to those taking the SAT because it shows kids where they are struggling, or the parts they are strong in.

The scores could tell a tester they are strong at the English portion, but scored poorly in the Math portion. The information released from the PSAT’s can also be as specific as what type of question the student got wrong. With this information, it can take a bit of stress off the student, and they can focus on improving their skills.

Students’ PSAT scores were delayed until Jan. 4th. Scores were supposed to come out Dec. 14. 

This forced certain students to go into the SAT blindly, unknowing of their PSAT scores and not knowing if they achieved a high score on their PSAT. 

Rumors were spread, some believing that a substitute let students use Photomath, an app that does math work for the students, on the PSAT because they were unaware of what the app was.

However, a statement was never released on what truly happened, and why these PSAT scores were delayed. 

“An irregularity was discovered and reported to the College Board. This irregularity took some time for the College Board to resolve.” Principal Mr. Daniel stated in an email sent out to students.

Regardless of the situation, many students got their SAT scores before even seeing their PSAT score.

“I was a little nervous, I was expecting to be able to base my studying off of my PSAT score, but I still did okay.” Rebekah “Bekah” Sigmond (‘24) said, who took her SAT on Dec. 3.

This delay might have seemed minor to some, but it still caused harm, leaving students walking into their SAT feeling nervous not knowing if they would score highly or not.