Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums High School What basic prep for a practice PSAT (new version)?

My DS15, a H.S. sophomore, will be taking a practice PSAT in about a month at his High School. According to his school this will be in the "new" overhauled PSAT he will take next year. College board will be releasing 'practice' tests in time and sample questions are now available on there web-site. I don't really understand the reason but our school doesn't allow anyone but juniors to take the official PSAT, but I guess that is OK since it doesn't really need to be official.

My son has not yet taken any of the SAT/ACT or PSAT and while I've always assumed that he is likely to do well on these type of test without much prep. (Except for the writing portion). I do want him to take it this time without much prep. But there are some "SAT taking skills" that I assume would be useful to go over before the test. Although what used to be the most critical of them, when to guess or not, is no longer relevant.

Any suggestions or how much to prep for a first time taking this type of test? I'm assuming there isn't enough time for there to be much material except on the college board web-site at this time.