Misconception about PSAT scores

Test Preparation
1

<p>Hey guys im new to these boards and i had a couple of questions.</p>

<p>first of all i am a junior and i am getting ready for the PSAT on the 17th and i dont quite understand some of the scores conversion table.</p>

<p>for example i see people posting scores like</p>

<p>-1 78CR
-1 76 M
-1 76 WS</p>

<p>so does this mean they only missed one question or one point?
if its one point then it makes sense to me but isn't each question wrong is -1/4 points? so techniquely you can miss anywhere from 2 to 4 questions to get one point deducted right? </p>

<p>and another question i have is that if i were to score high enough would they consider me for NMS using my current gpa or the gpa im going to have by the end of my junior year? because my gpa now is not too great and i have 4 cs on my transcript but by the end of my junior year i should be able to pull it up to about a 3.5 and senoir year to about a 3.7. so is that okay or am i not even going to be considered?</p>

<p>oh yeah and throughout my years ive being in preap classes and this year i have 3 ap classes and 2 preap.</p>

<p>thanks for the help.</p>

2

<p>oh yeah and that is on a 4.0 scale im will make past a 4.0 if we weigh in the ap classes this year and next year.</p>

<p>help anyone?</p>

3

<p>come on guys 27 views and no help at all?</p>

4

<p>Okay, PSAT/SAT/AP works like this: you start with a raw score, let's say 80. If you get one question wrong you get -1.25 off your raw score. If you skip a question, you only get -1 off your raw score. If you get a question right, you subtract nothing from your raw score.</p>

<p>Ex.) Raw score = 80; Wrong = 2; Omit = 3
Then you would get 80 - 2(-1.25) - 3 = 74.5</p>

<p>And then there's the scaled score, which your raw score will correspond to. If you were taking the Chem SAT II for example, you would get a scaled score of 730. (<a href="http://www.sparknotes.com/testprep/books/sat2/chemistry/chapter2section3.rhtml%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.sparknotes.com/testprep/books/sat2/chemistry/chapter2section3.rhtml&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p>

<p>So no, 2 to 4 questions wrong result in a lot more than just one point deducted.</p>

<p>If you scored high enough, you would be NMS using the GPA you're going to have by the end of your junior year. </p>

<p>Read the collegeboard website/PSAT registration packet. That'll help you out a lot more than a bunch of stranger on the internet.</p>

5

<p>Thank you Mintie i always thought that skipping a question is not good or bad but now i realize that it is bad.</p>

6

<p>Well, it's not bad to skip a question. If you have no idea, it's actually better to skip because chances are you'd get that 1/4 point off. Mathematically, if you can narrow it down to three options, it's worth taking a shot, and it's DEFINITELY worth it if you can narrow it down to two.</p>

7

<p>hmm im just mainly worried about my gpa even though i will have a 3.55, i do have a few cs on my transcript 3 or 4 i believe.</p>

8

<p>Yes, the distinction is between raw scores (how many items you either skipped or answered incorrectly) and scaled scores (which are designed to be comparable between different versions of the test).</p>