<p>Hello I'm a junior from NJ and I got a 218 on my PSAT. Has the national merit semifinalist cutoff ever been below 220 in NJ? thanks</p>
<p>I do not think so, however, this year may bring drastic changes as the percentiles this year are higher for lower scores. </p>
<p>It was 219 about a decade ago. Sorry to tell you this, but I doubt it will go that low…</p>
<p><a href=“***Class Of 2015 NMSF Qualifying Scores*** - National Merit Scholarships - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/national-merit-scholarships/1580340-class-of-2015-nmsf-qualifying-scores-p1.html</a></p>
<p>That post has tons of cutoffs.</p>
<p>Thanks a lot. Looks like 219 was the lowest. When will we know the cutoff scores for this year?</p>
<p>@averagewhiteguy how drastic? Not drastic enough for the score to drop below 220 right?</p>
<p>@vmiller7723 probably not, since the score has always been 223-224, but there is always a possibility since this year, scores have dropped immensely. The stakes aren’t too high for me, since I am only a sophomore, but I am quite disappointed in my scores. At the time of the test, I had done no preparation and had only slept 5 hours before because my english teacher had assigned an essay due the next day (obviously didn’t want us to do well on the PSAT) and in the first section of the reading, I fell asleep for about 5 minutes during the second passage and ended up leaving 7 blank and ultimately getting a 54 CR 
but after that, I woke up and somehow pulled a 67 M and a 65 W 
which put me at a 186. But hopefully with a lot of sleep and prep, I can get national merit next year. I live in PA by the way. Do you think this is possible? </p>
<p>No just do this. I found it on here. It requires making a my college quick start account though if you don’t already have one.</p>
<ol>
<li>Go to <a href=“Student Score Reports”>Student Score Reports; and sign in.</li>
<li>Go to <a href=“Student Score Reports”>Student Score Reports;
This page will show you the first question and will say at the top if you got it right or wrong.</li>
<li>Change the ‘1’ at the end of the url to ‘2’ and repeat, until you have gone through all the CR questions.</li>
<li>Repeat steps 2-3 but with <a href=“Student Score Reports”>Student Score Reports; for math andhttps://quickstart.collegeboard.org/posweb/questionInfoNewAction.do?testYear=2014&skillCd=W&questionNbr=1 for writing.</li>
<li>Count how many you got wrong and then calculate your score with the curve fromhttps://<a href=“Understanding PSAT/NMSQT Scores - SAT Suite”>www.collegeboard.org/pdf/psat/understanding-psat-nmsqt-scores-guide_0.pdf</a></li>
</ol>
<p>@averagewhiteguy Definitely possible! I got a 162 sophomore year without any prep or knowledge of the PSAT’s importance. I started prepping and raised my Writing and math scores immensely. I believe CR is the hardest to improve but you can definitely do it. A lot of the questions I got wrong this year were stupid questions where I had two answers left and took the 50-50 chance. I also got 2 vocab wrong which I easily could have gotten right if i knew the words. All in all, you can definitely improve your score a lot. I would buy the SAT blue book and do practice tests in there as well as print out past PSATs off the internet. </p>
<p>@ivyornah are you a sophomore or a junior and in what state are you from?</p>
<p>Thanks @vmiller7723, it seems like the CR is the hardest to improve but after learning about all of this PSAT madness, I have started to notice patterns in the passage reading questions and surprisingly, I was reviewing my CR answers and I got all of the sentence completions right, I do like to read as a hobby, I just think it was the time that got me on the test and my lack of experience. Do you think practicing with time would help alot. Also, with your sophomore scores, it seems like you made a huge jump, from 162 to 218! Give you self a pat on the back Also, how did you do it? ^:)^ I would really like to qualify for national merit next year and I would like to learn what I need to practice to improve. </p>
<p>If you were in PA @vmiller7723, you would definitely qualify for National Merit, and for my situation and my scores, I feel like if I was not so rushed and had studied, could have gotten a 70+ on the math since math is my forte and I made a few arithmetic mistakes on the test. </p>
<p>@ivyornah I hope they are not valid cuz I got a 186 lol but they probs, are valid, I don’t see why the College Board would post inaccurate scores. I don’t know, maybe just to f*** with us. lol</p>
<p>Yeah I agree. @ivyornah, I remember the one question that simplified to k^2=n, and after simplifying this, I was baffled because I was still in solve for the answer mode, and I never thought that the only option was a square number so it and to be that lol. Also, I made an arithmetic mistake on that triangle ratio one because I was rushing. eh whatever, doesn’t matter.</p>
<p>I posted this on another thread but
AH I just tried the method and it worked!! According to the method I got:
CR: -4 = 72
Math: -2 = 73
Writing: -2 = 73</p>
<p>Total: 218</p>
<p>I’m in Illinois and this is around the exact cutoff every year! I really hope I get in. Do you guys think it’s possible?</p>
<p>@fireonice I got the same composite, 218, but my scores were much less even all around. I got 76 in M and 78 in W, but only a 64 in CR… Nice job with the 218</p>
<p>@vmiller7723 thanks, it’s so annoying for example one question I got wrong in math I read radius instead of diamter…those small things can cost you. What state are you? Hopefully we both make it</p>
<p>When we (officially) get our scores do we get notified right away if we got it or not? Or do we still have to wait to see if we meet the state cutoff?</p>
<p>You won’t find out for certain until next September, IIRC.</p>
<p>Wow that’s annoying for people who are on the border haha</p>