PSAT/NMSQT

The Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) is a standardized test administered by the College Board and cosponsored by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) in the United States. Approximately 3.5 million students take the PSAT/NMSQT each year. In 2013, 1.59 million high school sophomores and 1.55 million high school juniors took the PSAT. Younger students are also eligible to take the test. The scores from the PSAT/NMSQT are used to determine eligibility and qualification for the National Merit Scholarship Program.

History

Prior to 1997, the PSAT was composed of only Math and Verbal sections. The Verbal section received a double weighting to allow a full composite score of 240 points. The Writing Skills section, introduced in 1997, was partially derived from the discontinued Test of Standard Written English (TSWE).

Format and Scoring

Students register for the exam through high schools which are members of the College Board. The test is composed of four sections: Two Math Sections, Critical Reading, and Writing Skills, and takes two hours and ten minutes to complete.[1]

PSAT

PSAT may refer to:

PSAT1

Phosphoserine aminotransferase (PSA) also known as phosphohydroxythreonine aminotransferase (PSAT) is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the PSAT1 gene.

The protein encoded by this gene is likely a phosphoserine aminotransferase, based on similarity to proteins in mouse, rabbit, and Drosophila. Alternative splicing of this gene results in two transcript variants encoding different isoforms.

Clinical significance

Homozygous or compound heterozygous mutations in PSAT1 cause Neu-Laxova syndrome and phosphoserine aminotransferase deficiency.

Model organisms

Model organisms have been used in the study of PSAT1 function. A conditional knockout mouse line, called Psat1^{tm1a(KOMP)Wtsi} was generated as part of the International Knockout Mouse Consortium program — a high-throughput mutagenesis project to generate and distribute animal models of disease to interested scientists.

Male and female animals underwent a standardized phenotypic screen to determine the effects of deletion. Twenty four tests were carried out on mutant mice and two significant abnormalities were observed. No homozygous mutant embryos were identified during gestation, and therefore none survived until weaning. The remaining tests were carried out on heterozygous mutant adult mice; no additional significant abnormalities were observed in these animals.