I was looking at the approximate National Merit cutoffs per state and they are all in the 200’s. Isn’t the PSAT scored out of 1600? What score does the National Merit Scholarship look at to determine finalists, etc.?
National Merit is not scored on the total score. It uses the “selection index” which is Reading + Writing + Math x 2 for a max total of 228.
Your NMSC Selection Index is your Verbal Score divided by 10 the multiplied by 2 added to your Math score divided by 10. So for example:
PSAT = 1400 = 700 V + 700 M
NMSC SI = (700/10)*2 + (700/10) = 210
PSAT = 1400 = 760 V + 640 M
NMSC SI = (760/10)*2 + (640/10) = 216
PSAT = 1400 = 640 V + 760 M
NMSC SI = (640/10)*2 + (760/10) = 204
So your NMSC SI can have a larger range and it’s better to do better on the Verbal than the Math for the NMSC SI.