On October 18th, sophomores and juniors walked into Niles West with sweatpants, a No. 2 pencil and a calculator, ready to take the PSATs. The SAT, or Scholastic Aptitude Test, is a standardized test administered by the College Board that many colleges across the U.S. look for in college admissions. Each year, high schools throughout the country provide an opportunity for students to take a practice SAT. The goal of the PSATs is to help prepare students so that by the time they need to take the SAT, they feel ready.

Going into the PSATs, students weren’t stressed. In fact, many students said that they were mainly looking forward to the memes that were bound to follow the test.

Sophomore Kirsten Nicolas was excited to go on her phone after the test and laugh at the different jokes.

“I was just looking forward to the memes after,” Nicolas said

Other students shared the same meme-loving attitude as Nicolas, as most social media apps blew up with memes about the PSAT.

“I was making PSAT memes in my head the whole time I was taking it,” sophomore Abby Penados said.

Less than an hour after West students were let out of school at 12:05, there were already memes and TikToks posted on social media. “Inside jokes” regarding the different reading prompts and math questions were spread across numerous platforms, including Twitter and Snapchat.

Most students agreed that the reading and non-calculator portions of the test were easy, or at least tolerable. However, the calculator portion confused test takers.

“For someone who didn’t really prepare for the PSAT, I think I did okay. I just wish I managed my time better during the reading section. Now I know what to prepare for in the spring,” junior Erika Sia said.

Junior Naomi Greene had similar opinions about the PSAT.

“I think the PSATs were kind of easy this year, but I still don’t know how to use a semicolon,” Greene said.

Even though students are told that the PSAT will be helpful to them in the future, some students are still skeptical, one of them being sophomore Stephen Zadro, who thought that the entire test was so easy it was boring.

“It’s a waste of time since it was too easy, for me at least. The whole math portion was equations that I learned back in 7th or 8th grade. The writing and reading portions were stupid because I know that I won’t be needing that for my future,” Zadro said.

Other students don’t mind taking the PSATs and have a different opinion on it.

“The PSAT test is the easiest test to understand, but most problematic in terms of what the questions are about and ask,” sophomore Ejona Basha said.

Overall, Niles West students took the PSAT seriously but were mainly looking forward to the memes that proceeded the test.