The PSAT is a shorter relative of the SAT, administered through schools rather than booked individually.
What it is for
Two things. It gives a realistic early reading of where a student stands, and for a specific group it is the entry point to a scholarship programme.
It is not sent to universities and does not form part of an application. A weak PSAT costs nothing.
The scholarship side
The National Merit programme uses PSAT results, and its eligibility rules are narrow: they depend on citizenship and school status, and are published by the programme itself.
Most students in Turkey do not meet those conditions. Treating the PSAT primarily as a scholarship route usually leads to disappointment for reasons that have nothing to do with the score.
The rehearsal value is real
A full length test under supervision, months before the SAT matters, produces something no home practice test does: a score obtained under genuine conditions.
That number is useful for planning. It tells you how far the gap is and therefore how much preparation time the SAT will actually need.
If the school does not offer it
The PSAT is administered by schools, so a student whose school does not run it cannot simply book one.
The same effect is available another way: a full length official practice test, taken under real conditions, timed, with no interruptions. The number is nearly as informative and can be arranged at any point.
How to read the result
By section and by question type, not by the total. The total tells you where you are; the breakdown tells you what to do next.