<p>I would like help from wise folks on CC in interpreting my S2's PSAT result.</p>
<p>I heard that the conventional wisdom is to multiply PSAT score by 10 and that's approx score for SAT. </p>
<p>For instance, S2's CR score was 71, so in SAT, that would be 710 based on the conversion method described above. However, his percentile score was 98%, and according to the college board SAT percentile chart, 98% should be something like 740 or 750.</p>
<p>So, which is it??? </p>
<p>I know there is no one on on match between PSAT scores and future SAT scores, but I am still puzzled since I am assuming that PSAT is a good indicator for where he stands in terms of his performance vis a vis his peers. All in all, there is something like total 120 point difference (out of 2400) between his PSAT multipled by 10 and the would-be-SAT score derived by his percentile standing among his peers: would be SAT score is higher. I think 120 point difference is rather meaningful.</p>
<p>Your thoughts???</p>
<p>(his weakness is math, and he is getting one on one private tutoring help just on math. I hope this helps him a lot).</p>
<p>I think the percentile is more meaningful. It shows where your son stands in relation to his peers. I believe, though I am not 100% sure, that the PSAT is at the same level of difficulty as the SAT. It would make sense then, that his score would go up when he sits for the SAT.</p>
<p>If you look at the median PSAT scores, I believe they are lower than the median SAT scores.</p>
<p>Well, consider the fact that a majority of kids do not study or prepare at all for the PSAT because it is really just a preliminary test to see where you’re starting from and if you aren’t looking for national merit money then it doesn’t count for anything. Compare this with the fact that most kids spend months preparing to take the real SAT and you can imagine why the average SAT score is a lot higher than the average PSAT score. The fact that 71 was the 98th instead of 75 just shows how much more kids study for the SAT than the PSAT.</p>
<p>I would look at the score as indicative of your son’s score only if he prepared for it like it was the real SAT. If he only prepared a little or not at all, like the majority of the kids taking it, then I would say it would make more sense to go by the percentile and approximate his score to ~750.</p>
<p>Then again, I wouldn’t really put too much stock in a PSAT score anyway. I know at least I as well as most of my friends increased very VERY substantially on the real SAT, simply because knowing it’s the real thing tends to bring out the best in kids.</p>
<p>My D’s PSAT score X10 jived pretty well with the SAT scores of the test she took the week before the PSAT. Just know that the SAT scores can increase on retake at the end of the junior year after he or she has had a year of seasoning under the belt and (if you’re lucky) actually puts some prep time in.</p>
<p>by the way, based on the PSAT score, we finally decided to arrange a private SAT math tutoring help for S2. </p>
<p>Do kids have good results with Math score improvement with focused one one one tutoring. I wouldn’t shoot for his math score on par with his CR percentile standing (that’s too much to hope for), but I am hoping that he will improve to the point that the discrepancy is not so obvious.</p>
<p>“Do most kids spend months prepping for the SAT?? Really??”</p>
<p>No, you’re right, the majority of kids in America don’t. There’s a reason why the average national score per subject is ~520 (last I checked).What I meant by that was that the kids who WILL prepare for months are only going to for the real SAT, not the PSAT. However, I would say there’s a pretty big contingent of kids who do study a lot for the SAT, and they do noticeably make the average SAT score much higher than the average PSAT score.</p>
<p>Owlice, that was my thought and it made me chuckle, no most kids do not. Only some kids. OP, BTW, my oldest took the PSAT cold, then the SAT the next year no studying and yes, the SAT showed something over a 100 point difference (can’t remember actual numbers) with no studying other than “normal” educational growth from one year to the next. I can’t compare my S2 because while he did take the PSAT he wasn’t in the running for NMS so he opted for ACT only.</p>
<p>regarding the question of whether kids prepare for SAT - I guess whether kids prepare for SAT for month and month is really a case by case scenario. S1 did not prepare at all, not even a single complete at home practice test. I believe most of his friends did not either. We didn’t even bother to learn what S1’s PSAT score was: hence my utter ignorance in how to interpret PSAT scores. </p>
<p>On the other hand we are arranging one-on-one SAT prep tutoring for S2.</p>
<p>So, I have two kids at both extremes of the spectrum. Go figure. S2 believes his older brother used up the family quota of test taking genes.</p>
<p>Not only do kids often not study for the PSAT, they also take them earlier in the school year than most college bound kids take the SAT. My younger son did somewhat better on the SAT than the PSAT, while my older son actually did better on the PSAT (only because he got an 800 on the writing section of the PSAT while he got a 690 both times on the SAT - writing an essay in 25 minutes is not his forte.) That said, just multiply by ten.</p>
<p>I think the math tutor can help a lot, based on friends’ kids having done it. Be sure to have your son take the ACT too. My math-averse child liked it much better than the SAT because the math is all in one chunk. The torment is not spread throughout the test. </p>
<p>I wouldn’t put a lot of stock in predicting SAT based on PSAT. I had one child whose SAT score was only 10 points higher after the 10x multiplier (but he was starting high so there wasn’t room for much increase). My other child’s score went up 70 points on the SAT. Both took both tests without prep.</p>
<p>Remember also that the PSAT has many fewer questions than the SAT, so an error on the PSAT counts more. In reality – the difference between a 710 and a 740 is generally one question. Don’t drive yourself nuts.</p>
<p>My “less mathy” S had a 550 M on the PSAT as a freshman, a PSAT 650 M as a junior, a 700 on the SAT March of junior year and a 760 in June. Did nothing more than Blue Book practice between the junior PSAT and first SAT, and no practice at all before the second SAT (he was too wiped out by AP/IB exams). He could not believe his math score was ultimately higher than his CR. It blew him away. His goal was to hit 700.</p>
<p>His final SAT was +110 from junior PSAT, +480 from freshman year.</p>
<p>Neither of my kids did any prep for the PSAT in freshman and soph years. For junior year, it was more diagnostic than anything else – take a few sections, identify the difficulties, do more problems like those, move on. S2 benefited greatly from IB as a way to improve his scores. He had huge jumps each year just from more advanced work and reading sophistication.</p>
<p>Most kids? Among my nieces and nephews, we are the oddballs. Noone else is focused on college til senior year, unless one counts following the flagship football and basketball seasons!</p>
<p>The only students obliged to take the SAT are those identified as contenders for the National Merit Scholarships based on their PSAT scores. Have your child take a sample ACT exam and see whether it is a better fit than the SAT.</p>
<p>Also, take a look at the list of test optional colleges and universities at [The</a> National Center for Fair & Open Testing | FairTest](<a href=“http://www.fairtest.org%5DThe”>http://www.fairtest.org)</p>
<p>I would just add the 0 to the PSAT figures and call it a day. That’s conservative, and if you’re doing initial figuring / screening of the types of schools that you think your S might be in the ballpark for, you’d rather play it very conservative anyway, and any improvement beyond that is icing on the cake.</p>
<p>Would seem to me that the difference in the percentages is a result in a difference between the cohort that takes the PSAT and the SAT. The PSAT mean score is slightly lower than the SAT which says to me that the SAT is a more self-selective group. </p>
<p>In our area, the PSAT is given at school and is sometimes even free. I’d bet there are kids who take it who don’t go on to take the SAT for any number of reasons.</p>