This handbook contains information for high school educators--teachers, curriculum coordinators, counselors, and principals--as they prepare students to take the Prairie State Achievement Examination (PSAE). The first section explains the purpose of the PSAE, gives timelines and test-day schedules, and shows how the PSAE is constructed. The rest of the handbook provides an overview of each subject test (including keys that give answers to each item and identify the Illinois Learning Standard(s) that the item covers) and five appendices that contain the text of the Illinois law that mandates the PSAE, performance-level definitions for each PSAE subject, a report on the process that was used to set standards for the PSAE following its first administration, and the Day 1 and Day 2 student test-preparation booklets (Preparing for the ACT Assessment and the Overview and Preparation Guide for PSAE Day 2). As in previous years, the Day 2 booklet for grade 11 students contains sample test questions, answer keys, a writing prompt, and scored and annotated writing responses from a previous PSAE administration. The PSAE writing test section of this handbook contains additional prompts and one annotated sample response. Appended are: (1) 105 ILCS 5/2-3.64 State goals and assessment; (2) Performance-Level Definitions; (3) Setting Standards on the Prairie State Achievement Examination; (4) Preparing for the ACT Assessment, 2003-2004; and (5) Overview and Preparation Guide for PSAE Day 2.