With the help of reports from Reddit's r/PSAT, I’ve compiled a list of the most common and challenging vocabulary from the October 2025 US PSAT. I've put these into a quiz format for students and parents to challenge themselves. Good luck!

PSAT Vocabulary October 2025 - Round 2 - Warm-up Reading Passage

Instructions: Read this passage carefully before taking your quiz. All 9 vocabulary words from October 2025 PSAT Round 2 appear in context. Pay attention to how each word is used naturally in the story.

The Startup's Gamble

Maya Patel stood before the venture capitalists, knowing that her startup's connection to profitability remained tenuous at best. Despite the paucity of concrete revenue streams, she possessed something of inestimable value—a revolutionary algorithm that could transform how medical diagnoses were made. The challenge was overcoming the industry's natural inertia, its resistance to abandoning established protocols that had governed healthcare for decades.

The conference room was capacious enough to hold fifty people, but today only five investors sat at the polished table, their expressions carefully neutral. Maya understood she needed to appraise the situation quickly and adjust her pitch accordingly. The lead investor's casual demeanor belies his reputation as one of Silicon Valley's most ruthless dealmakers, someone who had built his fortune by identifying potential where others saw only risk.

"Our technology evinces a ninety-four percent accuracy rate in early cancer detection," Maya began, displaying data that would align perfectly with the investors' interest in disruptive healthcare solutions. She had learned that successful pitching required more than just impressive numbers; it demanded a narrative that connected innovation with inevitable market transformation.

The youngest investor leaned forward, his interest clearly piqued. "The healthcare industry's resistance to change is legendary," he observed. "How do you plan to overcome the institutional skepticism that has destroyed so many promising medical startups?" Maya smiled, recognizing this as the critical moment in her presentation. She had anticipated this question and prepared a response that would address both the practical and psychological barriers to adoption.

"We're not asking hospitals to abandon their existing systems," she explained. "Instead, we're offering a complementary tool that enhances rather than replaces current diagnostic methods. Our pilot program at three major medical centers has already demonstrated that physicians who initially resisted the technology became its strongest advocates once they witnessed its accuracy in practice." The data she presented showed a clear pattern: initial skepticism followed by enthusiastic adoption, a trajectory that suggested her technology could overcome the sector's notorious conservatism.

As the meeting progressed, Maya sensed a shift in the room's energy. The investors' questions became more specific, focusing on implementation timelines and scaling strategies rather than fundamental viability. The lead investor finally spoke, his words measured but encouraging: "You've identified a genuine pain point in the market, and your solution appears both technically sound and commercially viable. Let's discuss terms."

Walking out of the building an hour later with a preliminary funding commitment, Maya reflected on how close her company had come to failure. Six months earlier, with funds nearly exhausted and team morale plummeting, the entire venture had seemed doomed. But persistence, combined with a willingness to refine their approach based on market feedback, had transformed a struggling startup into a potential industry disruptor. The path ahead remained challenging, but for the first time, success seemed not just possible but probable.

Vocabulary words practiced: tenuous, inestimable, inertia, paucity, capacious, belies, align, evinces, appraise