@GMTplus7 - yes, that is a possibility, but it randomness starts to set in. 1 or 2 mistakes on an entire 3 hour test will make the difference between getting the scholarship or not. Which is not the case for ALL the previous PSATs, even in DC (highest cutoff). They should just make it harder (which I bet they will).
Around what percent of students get scores to qualify for national merit each year?
Seems to me there will be less arbitrariness now for NMSF cutoff, because all the questions have equal weighting. Previously, a math question was worth double a CR/Language question.
@GMTplus7 - how was a math question worth double a CR/Language question? The selection index calculation has not changed - 1/3 Reading, 1/3, Writing, 1/3 Math. Is there something I’m missing?
@GMTplus7 Somewhere up thread it was theorized that there could conceivably be kids bunched up towards the highest selection index value. Assuming semifinalists are usually top 5%, and you have 6% getting a 228, then what?
@2muchquan, 5%??? I haven’t looked at this in a few years since my older daughter went through, but it’s nothing like top 5%. My recollection is that if you live in a low cutoff state you only need to be in the top 1%, or perhaps slightly lower. I don’t remember so well how many questions you could afford to miss but I think it was at least 12. You can figure this out if you look up some cutoff scores and scoring charts. If you live in a high cut-off state, you need to be in the top 0.5% or perhaps a little higher–it gets hard to tell the percentile from the charts, because minimum scores for the top percentile they were reporting don’t qualify so you have to guesstimate what percentile the qualifying scores correspond to. If I recall, the scores required corresponded to missing about 5-6 questions in the highest cut-off states. The fewer questions you can miss, the more it becomes about test taking skills
SemiFinalists have been the top 1% in the state, not the top 5%.
Despite how “easy” people on this thread have been commenting about the practice PSAT test on the CB’s website, the people visiting this particular thread are not a representative sample set.
Regarding what OP said, could someone explain to me what exactly the “Selection Index” is? And how does the score out of 1520 relate to that? I live in AZ if that helps in any way.
Oops, sorry! Ok whatever the %age is. I meant 5% only as an example, I had no idea. So it’s even worse. 1% could ‘easily’ get a 228 then, if the test is as easy as suggested in this thread. They would need a way to narrow this number down.
(man, i gotta be on my toes when posting. It’s so much easier just lurking)
1% could ‘easily’ get a 228 then, if the test is as easy as suggested in this thread. They would need a way to narrow this number down.
I just looked this up since I couldn’t remember too well. For the class of 2015 who took the PSAT in the fall of 2013, the selection index ranged from 201 to 224 depending on state. While this may be the top 1% or so in each state, this corresponds to 96th percentile nationally up to the top of the 99th national percentile range. In order to achieve those selection indices, students would need to miss fewer than 24-35 in the lowest cut-off states and 6-9 questions in the highest cut-off states. The range of allowable questions to miss is because the curve on the writing test is more difficult than the math, and critical reading is more forgiving than either of those. So it depends on what section you missed questions and exactly how the chart converts those questions into an index for the date you tested.
This is all for the now-old PSAT. But if the new test is significantly easier, you can see that the curve will be pretty compressed at the top end. It already is.
From what I understand, the College Board uses the number of HS juniors in a particular state and gets a number for the top 1% in that state and that is how they derive the cutoff number. So, in California or New York where the number of students is higher than North Dakota or Nevada, the cutoff number will be higher to limit those making the cutoff to 1%. Schools with high number of private/boarding schools (such as DC) end up with higher cutoffs because those students tend to score higher than the average population. So for purposes of the NM program, you might have a better shot if you’re from Montana than Massachusetts. (Please correct me if I am wrong anyone.)
FWIW, my daughter’s scores on this year’s PSAT practice test were consistent with how she scored on the PSAT as a sophomore. As suggested in another thread here, she did find the Khan Academy math questions to be somewhat more challenging than the practice test distributed by the CB.
I strongly suspect the CC community may be skewed towards high achievers and is not representative of the testing population as a whole.
Does anyone have any feedback from test takers today? I only got a brief text from D after the exam. She felt it was easier than last year’s and felt the first 3 sections weren’t bad. She struggled with the 2nd math section, but she is very weak in math and not the kind of student who would ever be in the running for NMSF or even Commended. We are just hoping that maybe she will be at the top of the group of students whose parents work for my H’s company so she can earn a scholarship that way.
I believe that they compute the number of HS juniors in a particular state divided by the total number of HS juniors in the US. That state percentage is multiplied by 16,000, which is the approximate total number of NMSF they aim for. That gives them the number of NMSF allowed per state, and they determine the state cutoffs by what selection index gives them the right number of students in each state. So, the percentage of NMSF goes up or down inversely proportional to the population of juniors. And, the selection index has a huge variation between different states, as noted, for reasons that could be argued about regarding their cause and fairness.
The percentage of PSAT takers who end up being NMSF in a state is strongly affected by what percent of juniors in the state take the PSAT. So, I believe that’s why you see things like 0.5% in California, which is historically a PSAT/SAT state, and larger percentages in states that are historically ACT states.
For feedback from students, check these threads later in the day:
Since the new scoring goes up to a 1520 with no penalty for wrong answers, the scores will surely be higher. And agree, have heard its an easier test.
The real test was comparable to the practice that was released; although, I had a little bit harder of a time on the reading section.
Hi, just took the PSAT and want to give brief feedback. Honestly, other than the fact that pure vocabulary questions are gone, not much changed. I am a math-person, so the math section didn’t seem too hard (but my classmates struggled). However I definitely think that this test was much harder than the released CB practice test.
Thanks for checking in @deeeznuts. Harder in what way?
There’s be speculation on CC that the released CB practice test was too easy, so perhaps the CB realized that.