We’ve gotten so many students asking us whether they should be prepping for the PSAT or just going in to take it cold with no prep that I thought I’d write an article. The PSAT is designed to be a practice SAT and is given in October for high school sophomores and juniors. Colleges will never see your scores, so you never have to worry about that.

However, even though the colleges don’t see it, it might be worth it to prep a little (or a lot if you’re a high scorer). If you have the potential of getting an extremely high score on the PSAT, you should probably prep for the exam if you’re a junior. Your PSAT score during your junior year determines whether you qualify for a National Merit Scholarship, which is not only extremely prestigious (and looks great on college applications), but also could earn you money to help pay for college.

If you’re taking the exam during your sophomore year, you probably shouldn’t prep at all because you should really be using this as true practice. When you receive your score report back in December, you’ll be able to determine your main areas of weakness and can focus on prepping those specific topics, concepts, and sections when you start studying.

If you’re taking the exam during your junior year, and don’t think you’ll be in the tiny percentage of students qualifying for the National Merit Scholarship, then you should prep a little bit for the exam. The things you should know are: when to guess, the types of questions to expect, the timing of the sections, and length of the exam. This will help you feel less nervous on the day of the exam and will make the entire process a little less stressful.