@GMTplus7 & @payn4ward Great news! DD’s score seems solid even for her high cutoff state. I have a headache now from all the speculation/analysis on the PSAT Discussion thread so I think I’ll just put it out of my mind until September!
I don’t even see where the cutoff numbers are mentioned… we were given a Selection Index number but I can’t see where to use that? It won’t matter as I am sure my kid will not be a candidate even though we are happy with the scores. I am mostly curious and trying to learn all I can as I go along…
@london203 There is a nationwide cutoff for Commended Scholars, but Semifinalists are chosen according to state-by-state cutoffs. No one knows what the cutoffs are yet for the Class of 2017 but people are trying to predict what they might be using the 2016 cutoff data and the College Board Preliminary Concordance Tables.
https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/pdf/psat-nmsqt-preliminary-concordance-tables-2015.pdf
Thanks, @TheStig2! So much information to absorb this year! LOL
@london203 Too much information. “Back in the day” I took one test on one Saturday with only school curriculum as prep. Now there is a whole test taking strategy to be implemented 8-|
Agreed, @TheStig2. I think the first 2 sittings of the new SAT will be nice for those kids who have not been in prep classes for the past however many years like so many kids have…
@Leafyseadragon yes, it’s based on this crazy concordance table, of which I am beginning to doubt the usefulness.
I think the actual cut off must be a few points lower (but not lower by 12 as prepscholar says) so it is a conservative estimate.
^^ yes, have one of those kids who has not been in. ChargerDaughter, though, has one solid ACT (with a curiously low essay section) in the books and said she’d just like to stick with that test one more round to improve. Not sure if her counselor will agree about forgoing the new SATs, which have been recommended for first administration of this spring at SAS.
I’ve been reading these boards and it’s very confusing. It would be so great for my son to get commended and I think he will at this point. He needs some good news after the year he’s had.
People have been crunching numbers all day. The best analyses seem to come down to the high cutoff states will come down, perhaps by about 4 points (optimistically, 6); those in the middle will stay about the same; and the low cutoff states may actually go up. This is based on the third page of the concordance tables published by CB (those are the tables that use the same scores used by NMSC). I agree, it’s not coming down 12 points, but I hope that the CA, MA, DC, etc. kids get a break (we’re in the middle – 212 last year – so I’m being cautious and assuming it might actually go up a point).
Commended is a little easier to predict. You can’t translate PSAT percentiles directly to SI, but usually a little below top 97 is good enough. If your kid was high in math and low in reading, then that percentile is probably a bit higher, but any kid in the 98th percentile should be good to go on commended.
So @higheredrocks you’re saying California might go down 4 points from last year, which would be 219? That would be fantastic - Leafy kid got 219!
I am just incredibly relieved that in CameoKid’s case, her SSATs were in no way a predictor of her PSAT results! 
@cameo43 same here but in opposite direction, LoL!
We are in traditionally 213-215 cutoff state and based one how kid’s class did, I think the cutoff is going up by a few points, 3-6 point. The number of NMSF kids each year has stayed the same over the years and a lot more kids did much better than the cutoff.
Thus, if our state cutoff becomes 216, I can’t imagine higher cutoff state coming down that low.
“You can’t translate PSAT percentiles directly to SI, but usually a little below top 97 is good enough.”
Bummer. DD was top 96.
HOWEVER, what a difference (in a good way) from her scores on the old PSAT and SAT! So, we are ecstatic about 96%ile and hope it translates to the new SATs!
But boarding school students are treated differently. They are subject to the highest cutoff in the region, not in the boarding school state or the student’s home state.
Hi folks,
Can someone please post an article that explains what you are discussing… meaning, not a forum discussion but a published article… so confused (newbie) parents like myself can get a solid introduction. Thanx
“But boarding school students are treated differently. They are subject to the highest cutoff in the region, not in the boarding school state or the student’s home state.”
Straight from the horse’s mouth, so to speak (emphasis mine).
Speaking of NMSC, I have some lessons to share with the class 2017 parents. We should’ve been more aggressive in pushing our son to apply for outside scholarships. I knew we would not be qualified for much FA if any at all in college but had the illusion that somehow elite colleges might like the BS he attended offerr FA with some “merit consideration”. Well maybe they do but they didn’t for us anyway. There are many outside scholarships you could try but many of the applications require essays, recommendations and transcripts. DS is a decent writer but not a fast writer. That was a roadblock considering his already busy schedule. And coming from his BS, he was not a “straight A” student, which we figured might put him in disadvantage. Not until we learned that he was receiving the one time $2500 scholarship as a national merit scholar and that was just about all the money he would receive from anywhere (and that his non-straight A grades were good enough for his HYP and top LAC admission) did we start regretting not pushing for outside scholarships harder. For those who are considering colleges with no merit scholarships, it might be worth the effort if your kids have the bandwidth to write those applications. Good luck to all class 2017ers!
FWIW, I texted “great score” to DD late yesterday afternoon and she replied “huh?”. She had no idea PSAT scores were released and when I told her she replied “I have a meeting with my counselor next week and we will probably talk about all that.” It was kinda great to know that, at least among DD and friends, there was no focus on or discussion about a test taken in October! Maybe it was due to the change this year and the fact that scores were delayed and released online? Last year at our local day school, there was a meeting for the whole class (including parents) and paper reports were distributed and explained. Whatever the reason, I’m glad DD was oblivious to it all. I guess it’s just us parents back home that obsess over the results 