Perhaps the first most important test of a student's high school life is the PSAT. Not only does it supposedly prepare the student for the real game, the SAT, but it also carries a great deal of notoriety in and of itself. For one, there are many scholarships associated with the PSAT itself, as well as many opportunities that will open immediately if a student attains a top score on this test. Many academic institutions use the PSAT as well as the SAT to choose who to begin courting for inclusion into their programs. As such, the PSAT should definitely not be taken lightly, and actually, even though the P in PSAT stands for "practice," the PSAT itself deserves a great deal of practice before actually being taken by the student as well. As the PSAT is essentially a shorter and easier version of the SAT, it is actually appropriate to study for the PSAT using SAT materials. The increased difficulty of the SAT will serve as an "ankle weight" does to a runner - once the weight is removed, the legs seem even more limber because of the added pressure and more difficult practice. Also, having the student take the much longer SAT will prepare him or her for the shorter PSAT as long as the guide or tutor informs the student fully of the technique that is being employed. The tutor should tell the student to check back over his or her answers with the extra time that he or she will have. As with the SAT, the PSAT math section is arranged in order of easiest question to most difficult question. What this means is that the student should not skip questions when it comes to the math section, and the student should also begin checking over his or her answers from the very beginning so as to clear out the easy mistakes from the earlier questions. Because an easy question and a difficult question are worth the same amount of points, trying to answer a hard question instead of three easier, earlier questions will result in a lower score. The English section of the PSAT should be studied like a book report. The questions that are asked on the PSAT will mostly require the student to interpret passages. Also, vocabulary lists should be incorporated into the practice sessions at each meeting, with the intention of expanding the student's vocabulary each time.