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How do I find out when my child takes the PSAT?
You ask the school, and only the school. Nobody else holds the date.
College Board does not set a national test day for fall 2026. It opens a window — October 1–30, 2026 — and each school administers the test on as many days inside it as it needs. The official student guide says plainly that different students from the same school may test on different days. So there is no lookup, no portal and no list to search: the counselor’s answer is the answer.
Who registers my child?
The school does. College Board states that students taking PSAT assessments do not need to register themselves — schools and districts order the tests and enrol the students. There is no parent registration page to miss.
What do I owe?
The 2026 fee is $18, and many families never pay it: districts and schools often cover all or part of it. Some add an administrative charge of their own. Only the school can say which applies to you.
Is my child even eligible for National Merit?
Only juniors on the standard four-year path. The 2026 PSAT/NMSQT is the qualifying test for the 2028 National Merit program. A sophomore who sits it this fall is rehearsing, not competing.
What if my school is not testing?
A student whose school does not administer the PSAT/NMSQT can still sit it elsewhere; College Board handles finding a school that will test them. Ask your own school first — they usually know the local arrangement.
The six things a parent actually does, in order — and the exact question to put to the counselor — are in the sign-up section below. If your child is also sitting the SHSAT, ISEE or SAT this autumn, our test registration planner lays every window side by side, with the day each one closes.
Fall 2026 testing window
October 1–30, 2026
Your school picks the day
Length
2 hr 14 min
98 questions, two sections
Score range
320–1520
Sections 160–760 each
Fee
$18
Many schools cover it
Verified September 8, 2026 against College Board's published fall 2026 materials. There is no single national PSAT/NMSQT day this year — see the dates section for why, and our sources.
PSAT/NMSQT Tutoring in NYC
What the PSAT/NMSQT actually does
The Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test does two jobs, and most families only hear about one of them. It is the entry test for the National Merit Scholarship Program — but only for juniors, and only in a specific year of high school. It is also, for every student who sits it, the closest thing that exists to a full rehearsal of the Digital SAT: same app, same 2 hours 14 minutes, same adaptive machinery, same calculator.
What it is not is an admissions score. No college sees a PSAT/NMSQT result as part of an application. That is why the stakes are strange: the test is low-stakes for admissions and high-stakes for scholarship money, and those two facts pull families in opposite directions. A sophomore is rehearsing. A junior is competing.
Already thinking past October? Our Digital SAT program picks up exactly where the PSAT score report leaves off — and because the two tests share format, timing and tools, almost nothing has to be re-learned.
Dates
When is the PSAT/NMSQT in 2026?
Fall 2026 testing window
October 1–30, 2026
This is the window for the whole SAT Suite of in-school assessments — SAT School Day, PSAT/NMSQT and PSAT 8/9.
There is no single national test day this year. College Board states that districts and schools may administer the assessments “on as many days of the testing window as needed,” and the official student guide tells students plainly that different students from the same school may test on different days. If you find a site announcing one specific Saturday as the PSAT date for 2026, treat it with suspicion — we could not confirm any such date in College Board's own published fall 2026 materials, so we do not print one.
The practical consequence for your family: ask your counselor or principal which day your school has chosen. That is not us dodging the question — it is the same instruction College Board gives in its own student guide, and it is the only answer that is actually true for your child.
Each student can obtain only one valid score during the window. Registration is not something you do yourself: College Board says students taking PSAT assessments do not need to register on their own, because schools and districts handle it.
Score release: College Board has not published a fall 2026 PSAT/NMSQT score release date on its public dates pages, and the student guide points to sat.org/scores instead of naming one. We would rather leave a blank here than invent a date a family plans around.
Registration
How do I sign my child up for the PSAT/NMSQT?
You don’t. The school does.
College Board states that students taking PSAT assessments do not need to register on their own: schools and districts order the tests, register the students and choose the day. There is no parent portal, no registration deadline you can miss from home, and no payment page. That is why searching for a “PSAT registration” button finds nothing — there isn’t one.
What a parent actually does, in order
- 1
Ask the counselor whether your school is testing at all
Not every school administers the PSAT/NMSQT, and a school that gives the PSAT 10 or the PSAT 8/9 is not giving the qualifying test. Ask the question plainly: “Are we administering the PSAT/NMSQT this fall, and on which day?” Do it now — the window opens on October 1.
- 2
Confirm your child is on the school’s list
The school registers students; it does not always register everyone automatically. Sophomores in particular are sometimes left off. If your child is a junior and National Merit is in play, make sure their name is on the roster in writing, not in a corridor conversation.
- 3
Ask what, if anything, you owe
The fee for the 2026 PSAT/NMSQT is $18, and many families never pay it: districts and schools often cover all or part of it, and some add a separate administrative charge of their own. Only your school can tell you which applies.
- 4
Settle testing accommodations early
Accommodations are requested through the school, and approval is not instant. If your child has an IEP or a 504 plan, start that conversation with the counselor well before the testing day rather than in the week of it.
- 5
If your school is not testing, go through College Board
A student whose school does not administer the PSAT/NMSQT can still take it elsewhere, and the process for finding a school that will test them is handled by College Board, not by a tutoring centre. Contact your own school first; they usually know the local arrangement.
- 6
Write the day in the calendar and prepare backward from it
Once the school names its date, everything else follows: the content to cover, the timed practice, and the last full-length rehearsal. The date is the only fixed point, and it is the one piece of information your school holds and nobody else does.
Juggling this against SHSAT, ISEE or SAT deadlines in the same season? Our test registration planner lays the windows side by side and works backward from each one, so nothing in October surprises you.
Once the PSAT is behind you, the score report is the best starting point a junior can have for the SAT itself — that bridge is what our SAT preparation is built on. If you would rather start from a measurement than a guess, book a diagnostic.
National Merit
The part only juniors can win
The 2026 PSAT/NMSQT is the qualifying test for entry to the 2028 National Merit Scholarship Program. NMSC will offer 7,320 scholarships in that cycle.
The eligibility rule that catches families out
A student on the standard four-year path must take the qualifying test in the third year of high school — grade 11, junior year. Not sophomore year. A sophomore who takes the 2026 test but plans to spend four years in grades 9–12 does not meet the entry requirements for the 2028 program; they take the PSAT/NMSQT again in 2027, as juniors, to enter the competition that ends in 2029.
Entrants must also be enrolled in high school (traditional or homeschooled), progressing normally toward completion by 2028 and planning to enter college no later than fall 2028, and attend high school in the U.S., D.C. or a U.S. commonwealth or territory — or meet the citizenship requirements for students schooling abroad. Students on a shorter path than four years have their own rule: they must be in the next-to-last or the last year of high school when they take the 2026 test.
The PSAT 10 and the PSAT 8/9 are never considered for National Merit. Only the PSAT/NMSQT is.
How the 2028 competition narrows
~1,300,000
Program entrants
October 2026
Of the more than 3 million students expected to take the PSAT/NMSQT in 2026, about 1.3 million meet the requirements to enter the 2028 competition.
50,000
High scorers
From April 2027
NMSC uses Selection Index scores to identify 50,000 high-scoring participants who qualify for program recognition, and asks principals to verify their eligibility.
16,000
Semifinalists
Early September 2027
About one-third of the 50,000 are notified as Semifinalists — the highest-scoring entrants in each state. Qualifying scores are set per state and change every year.
15,000
Finalists
February 2028
Semifinalists who meet academic and other requirements advance to Finalist standing. Every Merit Scholar is chosen from this group.
6,700
Merit Scholarship winners
From March 2028
NMSC offers 7,320 scholarships for 2028 in total: 6,700 National Merit Scholarships plus 620 Special Scholarships from corporate sponsors.
NMSC screens entrants with the NMSC Selection Index, a score on a scale of 48–228 calculated from the Reading and Writing and Math section scores and reported on the PSAT/NMSQT score report. Semifinalist qualifying scores are set state by state and change from year to year — which means nobody can honestly tell you this year's New York cutoff in advance, ourselves included. What we can do is work out where your child's Index points are being lost and go get them back.
What New York has actually required, as reported
A range is not a promise, but it is better than nothing. New York is consistently among the most demanding states in the country: its Semifinalist Selection Index has been reported at these levels for the last four graduating classes.
220
Class of 2024
220
Class of 2025
223
Class of 2026
220
Class of 2027
Read these as history, not as a target. The class of 2026 figure of 223 was a three-point jump on the year before, and a student who had planned around 220 would have missed. The only number that matters to your family is the one NMSC sets after everyone has tested, roughly two years after the exam — so we prepare for the highest Index your child can reach, not for a line.
Reported figures compiled by Compass Education Group from Semifinalist notifications sent to schools and from press lists. NMSC does not publish a public table of state cutoffs, so there is no primary source to link here, and we are not going to present a third-party compilation as an official one.
PSAT vs SAT
What transfers to the SAT — which is nearly all of it
The two tests are built on the same machinery. That is the single most useful fact for planning: PSAT prep is not a detour from SAT prep, it is the first month of it.
| PSAT/NMSQT | Digital SAT | |
|---|---|---|
| Format | Digital, in Bluebook | Digital, in Bluebook |
| Total time | 2 hours 14 minutes | 2 hours 14 minutes |
| Sections | Reading & Writing (64 min, 54 q) · Math (70 min, 44 q) | Reading & Writing · Math |
| Adaptivity | Multistage adaptive modules | Multistage adaptive modules |
| Calculator | Built-in Desmos, entire Math section | Built-in Desmos, entire Math section |
| Total score | 320–1520 | 400–1600 |
| Section scores | 160–760 | 200–800 |
| Extra score | NMSC Selection Index, 48–228 | None |
| When you take it | In school, during the Oct 1–30, 2026 window | Weekend or SAT School Day, you register |
| Seen by colleges | No — it is not an admissions score | Yes |
| Feeds National Merit | Yes, in grade 11 | No |
Read the table the other way round and you get the whole strategy. Everything in the top half is identical, so every hour spent on adaptive-module pacing, Bluebook tools and Desmos technique is an hour banked for the SAT. Everything in the bottom half is where the two tests part company — the Selection Index, the in-school administration, and the fact that colleges never see this score. See our Digital SAT prep program for what comes next.
Our Approach
How We Prep for the PSAT/NMSQT
Private 1-on-1, at 928 Broadway in the Flatiron District or fully remote. No packages to commit to, no contracts.
Diagnostic Assessment
A 2-hour deep-dive using a full-length adaptive practice test in the same Bluebook format your child will face. We identify exact gaps in Reading & Writing and Math, and — for juniors — where the Selection Index is actually being lost.
$150 one-timeA Plan Built Around the Window
Your school picks its day inside October 1–30. We work backward from that date: high-impact topics first, timed module drills, and a practice-test schedule that peaks the week your child actually sits the test.
Tailored to your school’s dateWeekly Sessions, Then the Handoff to the SAT
Private 1-on-1 sessions with written progress reports. Because the PSAT/NMSQT and the SAT share format, timing, adaptivity and tools, nothing your child builds here is thrown away — the score report becomes the opening move of SAT prep.
$125/sessionCurriculum
What We Cover
54 Reading & Writing questions in 64 minutes, 44 Math questions in 70 minutes, in adaptive modules. Every topic below is on the test your child will actually sit.
Math
- Algebra: linear equations, systems, inequalities
- Advanced Math: quadratics, polynomials, exponentials
- Problem Solving & Data Analysis: ratios, percentages, statistics
- Geometry & Trigonometry
- Desmos strategy — the calculator is available for the entire Math section
- The in-app reference sheet: what is given, so it is never memorized
Reading & Writing
- 54 questions in 64 minutes — the pacing is the whole game
- Short passages: literature, science, history, social science
- Command of Evidence and Words in Context
- Standard English conventions: grammar and punctuation
- Expression of Ideas: organization, development, rhetoric
Adaptive & Bluebook Strategy
- How module 1 performance determines the questions in module 2
- Bluebook tools: Mark for Review, Highlights & Notes, the option eliminator
- The countdown timer and the 5-minute alert — using them instead of fearing them
- Pacing across two separately timed modules per section
- Practising on the same app, on a school-managed device, before test day
National Merit Strategy (juniors)
- How the Selection Index is built from the two section scores
- Which section is costing the most Index points, and why
- Why state cutoffs cannot be promised in advance — and how we plan anyway
- What Commended, Semifinalist and Finalist actually require
- Turning the score report into the junior-year SAT plan
Pricing
PSAT Prep Pricing
The same straightforward pricing as the rest of our programs. Pay per session, start anytime, stop when you're ready.
Diagnostic Session
$150
one-time · 2 hours
- Full-length adaptive practice test
- Skill-gap analysis across both sections
- Selection Index read-out for juniors
- A plan built back from your school’s test day
PSAT Prep Sessions
$125
per session · grades 9–11
- Private one-on-one tutoring
- Adaptive-module and Bluebook strategy
- Full-length practice tests included
- Written progress reports
- Direct handoff into SAT prep
*Prices subject to change. No long-term contracts required.
FAQ
PSAT/NMSQT Questions & Answers
What NYC families ask us about the PSAT, answered against College Board's published fall 2026 materials.
When is the PSAT/NMSQT in 2026?
The fall 2026 PSAT/NMSQT testing window is October 1–30, 2026. There is no single national test day: College Board lets schools administer the test on as many days of that window as they need, and the official student guide notes that different students from the same school may test on different days. Ask your counselor or principal which day your school has chosen — that is the only reliable answer, and it is the same answer College Board gives.
How do I register my child for the PSAT/NMSQT?
You generally don’t. College Board states that students taking PSAT assessments do not need to register on their own — schools or districts handle registration. Your school orders the tests, registers students, and sets the testing day. If your child’s school is not administering the PSAT/NMSQT, contact the school first; the process for finding another school that will test you is handled through College Board, not through us.
Does the PSAT/NMSQT cost anything?
The fee for the 2026 PSAT/NMSQT is $18, but many families never pay it: the official guide notes that some districts and schools cover all or part of the cost for their students, and schools sometimes add a separate administrative fee. Your school is the one that can tell you what, if anything, you owe.
Which students are eligible for National Merit?
For a student on the standard four-year high school path, the qualifying test must be taken in the third year of high school — grade 11, junior year. The 2026 PSAT/NMSQT is the qualifying test for entry to the 2028 National Merit Scholarship Program. A sophomore who takes the 2026 test but plans to spend four years in grades 9–12 does not meet the entry requirements for the 2028 program; they take the PSAT/NMSQT again in 2027, as juniors, to enter the competition that ends in 2029. The PSAT 10 and PSAT 8/9 are never considered for National Merit.
What is the NMSC Selection Index?
It is a separate score, reported on a scale of 48–228, calculated from the Reading and Writing and the Math section scores. NMSC uses it as the initial screen of program entrants. It appears on the PSAT/NMSQT score report alongside the 320–1520 total score. Semifinalist qualifying scores are set state by state and vary from year to year, so no one can promise you a cutoff number in advance — including us.
What Selection Index does New York require for National Merit Semifinalist?
NMSC sets it state by state, after everyone has tested, and it does not publish a public table in advance. What can be reported is history: New York’s Semifinalist Selection Index has been reported at 220 for the class of 2024, 220 for 2025, 223 for 2026 and 220 for 2027, compiled by Compass Education Group from the notifications schools receive. Those are reported figures, not official NMSC publications, and the three-point jump to 223 shows exactly why planning around a past number is risky. The class taking the October 2026 test will not know its own cutoff until the summer of 2027.
How is the PSAT/NMSQT different from the SAT?
They are built the same way and prep transfers almost entirely. Both are digital, taken in College Board’s Bluebook app, both run 2 hours 14 minutes, both use multistage adaptive modules, and both have a Reading and Writing section and a Math section with a built-in Desmos calculator available for the whole Math section. The differences that matter: the PSAT/NMSQT is scored 320–1520 rather than 400–1600, it is administered in school rather than on a weekend you register for, and it is the only one of the two that feeds the National Merit competition. It is not sent to colleges as an admissions score.
Should a sophomore take it seriously if only juniors qualify for National Merit?
Yes, for a different reason. A sophomore sitting is a full-length, timed, adaptive rehearsal of the exact format the junior-year test — and then the SAT — will use, with a real score report broken down across eight content areas. That report is the most useful diagnostic a tenth grader can get, and it arrives a year before it has to count. We build the junior-year plan from it.
When do PSAT/NMSQT scores come out?
College Board has not published a fall 2026 score release date on its public dates pages, and the official student guide points students to sat.org/scores rather than naming a date. We are not going to guess one. Scores are made available through the BigFuture School mobile app and the online score report; check sat.org/scores, which is where College Board says the release dates will appear.
Sources & last verified
Every date on this page, and where it comes from
Last verified September 8, 2026 against College Board and NMSC's own published fall 2026 materials. Dates and program rules change every cycle, and a wrong date is worse than no page — so if you are reading this well after that date, check the primary sources below and tell us if something has moved.
- Fall 2026 PSAT/NMSQT Student Guide (PDF) — Testing window, $18 fee, test structure, and the National Merit entry requirements, eligibility year and competition steps.
- SAT Suite Dates and Deadlines — In-school assessments 2026-27 testing window; confirms schools handle registration.
- Changes for 2026-27 Testing — Confirms schools may test on as many days of the window as needed.
- What Do My Scores Mean? — Score ranges: 320–1520 total, 160–760 per section, Selection Index 48–228.
- How the PSAT/NMSQT Is Structured — Section timings and question counts.
- Score Release Dates — Where College Board says PSAT/NMSQT release dates will be published.
- National Merit Scholarship Corporation — The organization that runs the scholarship competition.
GeniusPrep is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to College Board or National Merit Scholarship Corporation. PSAT/NMSQT is a registered trademark of College Board and National Merit Scholarship Corporation. Your school, and the sources above, are the authority on dates and eligibility for your child.
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The window is October 1–30, 2026
Find out which day your school has picked, then start with a 2-hour diagnostic. We'll assess your child's level, set a target, and build a plan back from that date.
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