PSAT Math — student-produced responses: solve it, then enter it right

On the PSAT/NMSQT, about a quarter of the Math questions have no answer options at all. In these student-produced response questions you work out the answer and type it into an entry field, so there is nothing to eliminate, nothing to check against, and a correct solution can still be lost by entering it the wrong way. This material practices both halves of the job on Algebra and Advanced Math content: getting to the number without options to lean on, and recording that number so it is read as intended.

The entry rules come first. The field takes digits, a decimal point, a slash for fractions and a negative sign in first position — no spaces, commas, percent or dollar signs. So a mixed number such as three and one half must become 7/2 or 3.5 (typed without its space it would read as 31/2, fifteen and one half), a negative fraction starts with its sign, a decimal too long for the field is rounded or truncated, and when a question has more than one correct answer — two solutions of a quadratic, for instance — you enter just one of them.

The problems then produce exactly the kinds of numbers that cause trouble: a negative decimal from a linear equation, a fraction such as 3/14 from a system, a negative slope, the negative root of a quadratic with a leading coefficient of 2, the constant that makes a system have no solution, a decimal value of an exponential function, a radical equation, a gym-membership model in context, and a vertex x-coordinate of 5/6 that is best entered as a fraction.

The quiz presents these twelve questions with options so you can check your reasoning, and each explanation says how the answer would be entered. The flashcards collect the entry rules and the checks to make. The core of the material is the printable written work: ten problems answered as a single number, as on the test — you solve each one on paper and write the final entry exactly as you would type it, and the sheet is then checked. This material offers the quiz, the flashcards and the written work.

The content is based on the College Board's published description of the PSAT/NMSQT Math section (student-produced response format, about 25 percent of Math questions; Algebra and Advanced Math skills) on satsuite.collegeboard.org and in the Assessment Framework for the Digital SAT Suite. It is independent practice, not produced or endorsed by the College Board.

• Solve Algebra and Advanced Math problems without answer options and check the result by substitution
• Enter fractions, decimals and negative answers in a form the entry field reads correctly
• Convert mixed numbers to improper fractions or decimals before entering them
• Round or truncate a long decimal, or prefer an exact fraction, when recording an answer
• Enter one answer when a question has several correct answers

Practice material written by Zestly, based on the College Board's description of the digital PSAT/NMSQT Math section (student-produced response questions, about 25 percent of Math questions, that may have more than one correct answer; Algebra and Advanced Math skills) on satsuite.collegeboard.org and in the Assessment Framework for the Digital SAT Suite (answers up to six characters, rounded or truncated when longer).