I took practice test 2’s reading section and the first practice test for the other sections earlier today (My English teacher used passages from practice test 1 as practice so I decided to just do the practice test 2 one instead) and I got a 215 (34 Reading, 37 Writing, and 730 Math). A brilliant score if I lived in Winscosin, but alas, I am in Texas, and I need a 220 or maybe even a 221. I am so anxious, as this is probably my best chance to get a full ride scholarship at a decent college. I don’t know how the hell am I going to raise my score in a week and a half. I honestly thought I was ready since I did really good on the practice test 1 passages (only 2 wrong), performed well on my last practice SAT (1490!) and I learned all the math concepts I needed to know. At the very least I know I need to focus on pacing myself, especially on the no calculator portion of the Math test, but my Reading scores always seem to vary unreliably. I really don’t want to give up, but I wonder if there’s anything I can do at this point aside from reviewing what I got wrong (which I’ll probably do tomorrow since today I’m not in a good mindset). What can I do now when the test is 10 days away? Sorry for the rant, I’m just really stressed out…
Hello friend I am in california so getting NMSQT is even harder. I got semifinalist this year with a 1500/1520, but I have no idea what your “220” and “221” means.
I believe the score to get commended in California was 1470 and to get semifinalist it was 1490 (because my friend got 1490 and we were the only NMSQT people in our school).
So don’t stress, I missed 1 question on reading and 2 on writing. I even missed one on math. This led to a perfect score in math (760) and 740 in reading/writing. You have some leeway to miss a few questions. You should probably use a Redesigned SAT book to study for the PSAT, because the psat is also redesigned now.
You should aim for 760 math as that is the easiest section for most people and then try to bring up your critical reading / writing. Math is just easy points.
If your last year’s PSAT was 1490/1520, then why are you worrying so much? You’ll probably do even better this year.
Thank you for the quick response @FriendlyChinaman. The National Merit uses their own index to judge scores. Basically, you take the subscores for Reading and Writing, add them and multiply them by 2, add the Math score divided by 10, and you get the National Merit Index score. (34 + 37) * 2 + (730/10) = 215 for my practice test (a 1440 by normal standards), which is less than last year’s 220 cutoff for Texas. (California’s was 221 btw)
So Math is weighed much less than Reading and Writing. I would focus on my Reading, but it is very difficult for me to improve my Reading score than my Math score, so I’ll probably focus on Math and hope that the Reading test clicks with me.
Anyways, the 1490 was from a SAT practice test. I actually got a 1360 on last year’s PSAT. So that’s why I’m worried a lot. : /
@FriendlyChinaman National Merit does not use total scores it uses the selection index which weights reading and writing as different sections so one third for math, one third for reading, and one third for reading.
This year the texas SI was 220 and CA was 221.
I completely understand @QuestionerZ 's apprehension. We are in the same boat with my son, a lot it riding on this one test. My advice at this point is to keep taking the official PSAT/SAT practice tests, even retaking them so you are completely familiar with the type questions that will be on the PSAT.
Questioner Z- but the PSAT is only a test, in the schools that offer full ride scholarships, there are no ivy league schools or top-tier schools like MIT, Caltech, or Harvey mudd. I think they know that the Psat is just a test that most people don’t even study for, so not all the schools offer scholarships for being a Finalist.
The only school that I can recall that offered a scholarship would be Claremont McKenna. Even most of my friends know that the psat is just a test, and the really smart people don’t care too much for it.
I think NMSQT might be a way of keeping the PSAT afloat for collegeboard, because if they didn’t offer the nmsqt, who would even care about the psat?
I think the bottom line is that the semifinalist looks good on your transcript, but it’s not something that’s as important as a decent SAT score. Because colleges know most people don’t care about the psat anyways (Things may be different at your school, of course).
@FriendlyChinaman They may not be MIT, but there are some very good schools on this list: http://nmfscholarships.yolasite.com/. SAT scholarships are not as good. I would choose to go to a decent school for free over going to an Ivy college with debt.
@QuestionerZ I couldn’t agree with you more!
My daughter is currently at OU on a 5 year National Merit Scholarship which will allow her to double major in meteorology and computer science with minors in math and German and keep up with private lessons on her instrument (covered by scholarship too!) She also gets to spend 6 months on a German Meteorology exchange program. No, OU isn’t MIT or CAL Tech but it has a world class Meteorology program. There’s not many places that you a can graduate with a dual comp sci/meteorology degree, let alone do it debt free!
My S18 hopes to get National Merit and go to UT Dallas even though he’s an auto admit for UT Austin, he really likes the UTD and it will be 100% free if he make National Merit. He can always go to UT Austin or some other ‘prestigious’ for grad school if he likes.
Upon reviewing what I got wrong for the Reading section, pretty much most of the questions were extremely stupid mistakes, such as realizing the question asking “what did he NOT argue” and I chose the answer choice of what he did argue. I can at least have the comfort that with more careful reading, I probably would have gotten a better score. Next time, I’ll underline key words.
Additionally, I understood what I got wrong on the Math no calculator section and if I had a little more time I would have been able to figure them all out.
So now that I’ve realized that most of what I missed are stupid errors and pacing issues on both the Reading and the No Calculator portion, I feel slightly more relieved, but not completely. I’d like some advice. How can I eliminate these stupid mistakes and, more importantly, how can I get myself to finish the Reading/No Calculator section more quickly and not get stuck on a few questions that raises my anxiety?
@QuestionerZ , @3scoutsmom knows how important NMF is too us also but we are 3 years away. I am wishing you the best! with only 10 days left, official released test is the only material I personally would focus on.
I’ll tell you what I tell my own kids. Something like scoring highly enough on the PSAT would surely open a few more doors and make a bit easier of a path. But no matter what happens with it, we can find other paths. they might not be as obvious and maybe they are a bit overgrown.
See if you can find other nice colleges with high merit for great stats other than NMF. Maybe not quite full rude but maybe pretty darn close. Maybe that will help you relax just a bit.
^^^
Agree with the above…
My older son made NMF and got a near free ride…everything but meals.
My younger son just missed the cutoff, but he had high SAT/ACT scores so he still got very large merit…just a few thousand less per year than our older son. He got free tuition, plus $4500 per year.
Scores will be out in less than a month now and I’m so apprehensive but @Mom2girls and @mom2collegekids are right. I just have to keep reminding myself that at the college ds18 will likely attend, the difference he’ll likely receive between their National Merit and their regular merit is only $5k a year which we can afford, so it won’t be the end of the world if he doesn’t make it. Still, the waiting is just so hard!