<p>jenni0z - the cutoff for commended will be the same nationwide and is usually around 200-202. I think it’s announced around April or May. The cutoff for semifinalist is announced next September and will vary by state. California’s cutoff for class of 2010 is 218 so chances are very good that you will be named a seminfinalist - congrats!</p>
<p>Nice job (especially considering your grade), randomazn.</p>
<p>Does anyone have any historical data on the state cutoff fluctuations over the past five years? Or at least how many states’ cutoffs have increased or something like that? And i got a 211 (cutoff last year from FL), highest score for 98th percentile, but that has no correlation with NMSF since states with historically lower cutoffs have students with a national percentile of 97 get NMSF, right?</p>
<p>Has anyone received an 80 on the Form W Math section? It was harder than usual, so I wonder how infrequent these are. </p>
<p>I’ve decided to burn through some practice tests during break and take the SAT in January and retake in March.</p>
<p>Wow, I feel special getting a compliment from silverturtle lol. 
In answer to your question, while I failed to achieve a perfect score on my math section (I had Form W, I believe), this junior at my school actually did do that. In fact, I think he got everyone right on the entire PSAT test except for one miss on CR. It’s insane. Highest score in our school. Obviously. We have a pretty crud-resembling school.</p>
<p>So yes, I do know someone personally who has gotten that 80. As for other people, I don’t know yet. Probably infrequent, as you mentioned. Our school wasn’t even supposed to disclose the results until tomorrow. My counselor was just so excited with the fact that not everyone at our school got a 160 or whatever that she let some people take home xerox copies of their’s ahead of time…</p>
<p>“We have a pretty crud-resembling school.”</p>
<p>What do you mean by that? -1 on the whole test is incredibly good, so it sounds like you have at least a pretty good school… Could just be a smart student though, of course. Are you just saying that because most of the other students had low scores?</p>
<p>hahaha ^ (randomazn14’s post)
10char</p>
<p>Scores arrived at my school today. But they feel the need to keep them from us until the 18th. Just to “not add extra stress during finals week.” What BS. I want my scores now.</p>
<p>Have you talked to your GC?</p>
<p>@Silverturtle-
Sorry to bring up the explanation of/for issue again, but I found an article in the English Journal from 1965 that gives an example containing “explanation of” used in a very similar context. The only problem is that I found it on a reseach database (JSTOR) that I have access to through my school…so, unless you have a subscription, you can’t open it. </p>
<p>The article gives examples of the types of questions on college entrance exams. One example has part of a paragraph on the decline of fiction and novels followed by 5 possibilities for the next sentence. The correct answer: “No critic or publisher has yet
offered a reasonable explanation of this trend.”</p>
<p>Here is a link to the article: [url=<a href=“http://www.jstor.org/pss/810152]JSTOR:”>Kinds of Language Knowledge Required by College Entrance Examinations on JSTOR]JSTOR:</a> An Error Occurred Setting Your User Cookie<a href=“you%20can%20only%20view%20the%20first%20page%20without%20logging%20in”>/url</a></p>
<p>If “explanation of” is correct in this context- and considering this came from the English Journal, I’m assuming it is- then it’s correct on the PSAT.</p>
<p>I wish the Writing section were as seemingly objective as the Math section (I qualified “objective” because there is always a defense for something). </p>
<p>I consider myself mediocre in Math (well, I guess compared to people who are profoundly gifted in it), but my grammar skills are very strong. And yet I always tend to do better on Math (790 freshman year, 4*800 on practice tests, hopefully 80 this time); I attribute it to the comprehensibility and relative objectiveness of the Math questions.</p>
<p>Don’t even get me started on CR. :)</p>
<p>Does anyone share this experience?</p>
<p>@silverturtle </p>
<p>I got an 80 on the math, but I also got an 80 on the math in freshman and sophomore year. In my school, which usually has about 20 NMSFs, there were only two people (including me) with perfect math scores. I do agree with you that the math was especially hard this year. I coasted through the math the first two years but this one was confusing at times.</p>
<p>Yellowroses, nice find. That’s compelling, but it’s not from a dictionary. Again I summon the axiom: Just as I wouldn’t cite a non-dictionary source in definitive support of my position, so I would expect the College Board to not cite one in definitive defense of theirs. </p>
<p>Even English journals make mistakes. Dictionaries, though, tend not to do so (I use “tend” very strongly here. :))</p>
<p>I received a 70 M 9th grade, 74 M 10th grade, and hopefully an 80 this year. I agree with you. However, I do not possess the same meticulousness that you have. I always make careless errors in the math section and lose the elusive 800.</p>
<p>“parallelism for the win”</p>
<p>Ha ha. It’s ironic you say that because your mistake was “losing.” :)</p>
<p>@silverturtle:</p>
<p>I know we have had our disagreements but I totally agree about the math objectivity point you made. As a soph I got 80 on math (hopefully this year too) but I am terrible at the reading because it the answer is not definite and is often ambiguous. I hate that about the psat, but I dont think writing is as bad in that way as CR is.</p>
<p>“but I dont think writing is as bad in that way as CR is.”</p>
<p>Maybe the “explanation” question just made me bitter. :)</p>
<p>“I know we have had our disagreements but…”</p>
<p>Grammar disagreements never fade.</p>
<p>(I kid.)</p>
<p>Alright. We’re on page 38, so it might be time for a joke (one you may have heard, found lame, or like a bit; I love it for some reason). </p>
<p>What do you call a cross between an elephant and a rhino?</p>
<p>ANSWER:</p>
<p>Hell if I know. (Get it?)</p>
<p>…I’m guessing that’s a no.</p>