PSAT Data and Geometry — entering your own answers

About a quarter of the Math questions on the digital PSAT/NMSQT give you no options at all. College Board's Assessment Framework for the digital SAT Suite calls these student-produced responses: you work the problem out and type the answer into a box, following a short set of published directions that are the same for the SAT and the PSAT/NMSQT. The directions are simple, but they are strict, and a correct answer typed the wrong way does not receive credit. This material practices both halves of the format on Problem-Solving and Data Analysis and Geometry problems.

The twelve quiz questions each solve a short problem first: a percent increase, the cost of tiling a floor, a probability from counts, the slope of a line of fit, a residual, a triangle's area, a side of a similar triangle, a cyclist's speed, and the possible third side of a triangle. Then each asks which typed entry receives credit, or which one would not. Every entry rule is covered: enter only one answer when several are correct; at most five characters for a positive answer and six for a negative one; a fraction that does not fit becomes a decimal; a decimal that does not fit is truncated or rounded at the fourth digit, so 0.67 does not count for two thirds; a mixed number becomes an improper fraction or a decimal; and no percent sign, comma or dollar sign. The quiz itself has options, of course, but what it trains is exactly what the box expects.

The flashcards hold the entry rules and some short problems whose back is the number you would type.

The printable written work is where the format is practiced as it really is, with no options anywhere: eight problems on a missing value from a mean, a probability that does not come out evenly, a percent growth, the value of k in a volume written as k times pi, a side of a similar triangle, a negative residual, a speed in kilometers per minute, and a triangle's third side with many correct answers. For each, you write the answer and then exactly what you would type.

The oral exam asks one problem at a time, lets you answer, and then asks how you would enter it, correcting any entry that breaks the rules.

A good habit to take from this material: before you type, count the characters, and if the box has room for more digits, use them.

The entry directions are summarized from College Board's published test directions. All problems are invented for practice, and nothing is taken from any published test.

• Solve data and geometry problems without answer choices
• Enter fractions that fit, and convert those that do not to decimals
• Truncate or round long decimals at the fourth digit and use every character the box allows
• Convert mixed numbers to improper fractions or decimals before entering them
• Enter negative answers within six characters, with the sign first
• Leave out percent signs, commas and dollar signs
• Enter just one answer when several are correct

Practice material written by Zestly. The answer-entry rules are summarized from the student-produced response directions reproduced in Appendix D of College Board's Assessment Framework for the Digital SAT Suite (version 3.01, August 2024), which states they are identical for the PSAT-related assessments; the share of such questions (about 25 percent of Math) is from the same document. All problems are invented. Zestly is not affiliated with College Board.