As the morning of Oct. 10 dawned, juniors rose from their beds not at the expected 45 minutes later due to the late start, but at the regular times they would wake up any other day of the week. They are all required to be at school at 8 o’clock sharp and not a minute later. The junior class trickled in clutching number two pencils and graphing calculators. They arrived to take the PSAT, a practice version of the SAT.

The test occurs every year for students all over the United States.

“It’s a practice SAT for everybody,” Assistant Director of College Counseling Andrea Sachs said. “But it is the one test to determine placement in the National Merit Scholarship Program.”

The National Merit Scholarship Program, run by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation, recognizes outstanding performance on the PSAT. Finalists who score significantly higher than the state average will be eligible to win $2,500 to put towards college tuition.

“In its essence, [the PSAT] it’s a low stress version of the SAT, as colleges can’t actually see your score on the PSAT,” Sachs said. “What it does help students with is giving them the feel for the real test and showing them where they might have to study a bit more in anticipation for the real thing.”

Students who took the PSAT can expect their scores back in early December.