I’m confused about the new PSAT/SAT scoring, according to the College Board the PSAT is 1520 and SAT is 1600 is this correct? If so why the 80 point difference?
https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/psat-nmsqt-psat-10/scores
Both PrepScholar’s blog and Ivy Global’s New PSAT 3 Practice Tests book say the top score for the PSAT is 1600. Where is the other 80 points coming from?
I’m confused too, but if you look at https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/about/scores/structure, you’ll see that it looks like the intention is to be able to show growth from grades 8 to whenever they take the SAT test on the same scale, but to have a lower max for the PSAT, PSAT 10, and PSAT 8/9. (The ACT has similar grade-level tests, and the game is probably to get states to adopt this testing sequence alongside SBAC or PAARC testing. More tests=more $$$ for CollegeBoard.) SBAC testing (for Common Core) does a similar thing with higher average scores expected in each grade level and max scores that increase with grade levels, because the highest level questions are not available to younger kids.
I’m interested to see that the total score will be half math and half reading/writing. I’ve read that the PSAT and then the SAT were made 2/3 reading/writing because if you score 1/2 math, you’ll see significant gender differences at the high end of the range in total scores. For the PSAT, that was affecting the gender distribution of National Merit kids (too many boys), and I believe there may have even been a course case in the 70s or 80s that resulted in the 240 PSAT max score with the reading/writing doubled, and later separating the CR and W components.
This doesn’t affect me so much, since my Class of 17er is mathy and male. But, unless the gender gap has gone away in math, it seems like this new score setup will cause the same problem to reoccur.
As a woman, I certainly hope the gender inequity is a thing of the past. I was just discussing this with my daughter, I asked how many boys vs girls were in her AP CAL BC class last year and she said it was about 50/50.
As a woman, I agree! (And, I scored higher on math than verbal on the PSAT/SAT back in the 80s.)
But, the list of kids on the bus to the ARML (American Regions Mathematics League) competition from Southern California for the past couple years has been about 80% male, 10% female, and 10% I’m not familiar enough with names in that language. Similar distribution for other math contests; but maybe contest math is different than PSAT/SAT math scores. This is just a test up through trig or whatever, after all. It rewards being careful, where in my experience of boys, girls may have an advantage.
I’ll ask DS17 about the gender distribution of his AP Calc BC class this past year, though I think it changed after the 1st semester when a lot of the seniors dropped. The only 9th grader taking the class was female, though.
On a related note, has anyone heard anything about how national merit selection indices will be calculated? I think I remember that back in the old days, before the separate writing score, they would double the verbal and add the math. Is that the plan again?
@pckeller I posted about this on another thread:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/national-merit-scholarships/1792892-predicted-cut-off-for-the-class-of-2017.html#latest
I called NM today and was told that they haven’t made a decision yet but the fellow I spoke to said it was his guess that they will just go with the total score, giving equal weight to both sections.
Hmmm… I am not filled with confidence about that “guess”. They had their reasons for double-weighting the verbal. Do they think that those reasons will have gone away?
If you click on the counselor resource guide at the bottom of this page here https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/it gives you a full explanation of all of the new changes. inside the pdf, it says the following:
Total and Section Scores
The redesigned assessment will report a total score that will be the sum of two section scores: (1) Evidence-Based Reading and Writing and (2) Math. The total score will be reported on a scale range:
240 to 1440 on the PSAT 8/9
320 to 1520 on the PSAT 10 and PSAT/NMSQT
400 to 1600 on the redesigned SAT
On the redesigned SAT, the three scores reported for the redesigned SAT Essay will be reported separately and will not be factored into the total score.
Hope this clarifies any misconceptions 