I am a sophomore and I got a 211 on my PSAT this fall. Is this a good score? I honestly have no idea because I know people who got below 200, and then I also know people who got above 220. What I do know is that that the qualifying score for NMS in my state (New York) is around 219, so had I been a junior I wouldn’t have qualified. So what are the best ways to improve PSAT scores? My breakdown was 70 Reading 65 Math 76 Writing, so I specifically want to focus on improving math and reading.
That’s what I got. It was good enough for Commended in my state. Definitely a great score for a sophomore.
Good luck!
It’s been a while but I was in a similar boat. My sophomore year I got a 171 and my junior a 222. That’s a monumental difference. How i did it is a story though. I got basically 55 around the board, then 80M 77CR 65W.
Basically I am the inverse of you, math is my highest and writing my lowest. The good thing is that those are the two easiest to study for.
For the math, just practice practice practice. Memorizing all the formulas is useless if you don’t know when to use them. When you inevitably miss 9 questions on a practice test, go back and rework the problem to get the right answer for all of them, even if you know how you messed it up. The writing it out is crucial.
Then memorize some formulas, but also know exactly what you’re given! Yeah I knew the formulas for special right triangles but it’s better to be sure.
As for the calculator, don’t be tricked into relying on it. It’s only even usable on about 15 of the problems, and helpful on maybe 5. It’s basically useless except for helping you with arithmetic.
For the other subjects I can’t say much. I would recommend a prep book if you can afford it. My personal preference is that Gruber is ridiculous but super helpful. Barrons has misprints and errors but the best practice questions. Princeton review has the best explanations but really bad questions. Princeton is to get you from a 171 to a 210, Barrons from a 210 to a 222, and grubers from a 222 to a 240.
Start early too. I prepped every weekend since the the first of September until the test.