Sophomores, juniors, and AVID freshmen took PSATs on Wednesday, October 16, and many students felt unprepared for it.

Part of this was that sophomores were not supplied calculators for the math portion of the test. They were allowed to bring their own from home, but many were not made aware of this in advance. The College Board does not require that students use a calculator for that portion of the test, nor that one be supplied.

“I had no calculator,” sophomore Alexa Peralta said, explaining her difficulty with the test.

Many students felt that they felt unprepared for the test questions.

“It was hard overall,” Peralta said. “No one taught me anything.”

Natasha Fowler said that the staff could have done more for students, but there were also some miscommunications along the way. Chemistry teachers were supposed to let sophomores know that they could check out calculators, since the school did not have enough of them for everybody.

“I could see a student feeling that way, and maybe we could do more,” she said. “There was a breakdown in communication… Every year we try and see what could have been communicated better for the next year.”