Over one and a half million juniors take the Preliminary Scholarship Aptitude Test or the National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test each year. This test is used to measure students across the nation in reading comprehension, mathematics, and English skills. In the new age of social media, juniors across the nation took to twitter, tumbler, and other social media sites to talk about the test. As a high school tradition and now a social media phenomenon, the PSAT/NMSQT has become an icon of teenage America.
Beginning as a scholarship program in 1955, the National Merit Scholarship Program adopted the PSAT as the national qualifying test in 1971. The test continued to evolve into its present form with math, reading, and English sections. There has been some scandal concerning the addition of a second verbal section after a flood of Asian immigrants, who excelled at math, began qualifying for scholarships. With high scores on the PSAT, a student can receive higher scholarship money for college. It has become an almost compulsory activity in high schools around the country and a staple of teenage development.
One of the things that PSAT/NMSQT stresses most about the test is its secrecy; however, since America entered the social media era, this secrecy has all but disappeared. Teenagers have taken to the internet to mock the test. This humorous and avant-garde form of humor breaks many of the testing rules society has set in place. The complete mockery of the PSAT/NMSQT is not a completely vulgar affair. Quite the contrary, this form of ridicule has surprisingly unified teenagers across America.
The educational value of the PSAT can be questioned. It can be called illogical to judge the merit of students based on one test. However, the ability of this test to unify Juniors across the nation is a surprisingly priceless quality. Even without the benefit of scholarships, this American icon needs to remain a staple of high school to unify the otherwise divided cliques of high school.
American Cultural Icons 