Milton Area High School offers a few optional tests for students to take depending on their future goals. These include the Practice SATs (PSAT) and the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB), They are both scheduled for Oct. 22.
In past years, the PSAT and ASVAB tests were on paper but in more recent years they moved to online formats, said Guidance Counselor Ms. Leslie Robinson. The guidance counselors choose the schedule, working with the army proctor,who administers the ASVAB.
“Our school does not offer to give the actual SAT test; we give the PSAT once a year to all juniors, and our school covers the cost,” said Ms. Robinson, adding that the test is similar.
According to Ms. Robinson, when a student has weakness in the content, there is an extra program through Khan Academy that helps them practice and get better.
Though there isn’t a restriction on who can take the PSAT, but it’s recommended for students to take it after they have taken geometry. The PSAT is a tool that can be used to prepare for the SAT, Ms. Robinson added.
According to Ms. Robinson, the ASVAB test is usually given at the same time as the PSAT, but some years the ASVAB is not given at all due to not being able to schedule a proctor. On rare occasions, like last year, it can be given more than once if a student needs it, and a proctor is available. The ASVAB is a test to help students that want to go into the military and it allows students to determine eligibility and a career path in the military, she added.
“The ASVAB can be taken by anyone in high school grades nine through 12, but the ninth and tenth grade students won’t count with the army,” Ms. Robinson said.
Depending on a student’s ASVAB score, it can take the place of Keystones in graduation requirements, she added,“but as a junior or senior, you can take your score if it’s good enough and give it to the Army.”
Milton High School Principal Mr. Michael Bergey said the ASVAB can be used in two ways. It can be used for someone going into the military to give an idea of what jobs the student would be eligible for but, it can also be used as a career exploration tool. “That’s why we are encouraging any students to take it this year,” Mr. Bergey explained. The PSATs are usually only taken by students who want to go to college so it’s a useful tool to those students.
The optional testing that our school offers (the PSAT and ASVAB) are useful tools because they can’t do anything to negatively affect you and only benefit you, according to Mr. Bergey.
According to Ms. Robinson when students go to sign up for the SAT on Sat.org , dates to take the test at local schools will show. Most students choose to go to Lewisburg High School to take it after they are sent the dates of local schools that proctor the SAT, she said.
