On CollegeBoard’s website, they talk about a new, redesigned PSAT/NMSQT. How different is this from the previously administered PSATs? I’m currently preparing for the SAT’s so I was hoping that I can apply what I learned how to attack the SAT to the PSATs. Thanks
I purchased a Barron’s prep book for the new PSAT. There is a big t chart describing the differences.
Here are the highlights–>
-30 min longer(2 hours and 45 min)
-NO guessing penalty
-Only 2 sections, total score between 400 and 1600, writing and reading are now part of the same section.
-Less emphasis on geometry and more on algebra
-Less difficult vocabulary
-Only long passages and graphs. No short.
@hgxfovde Your book is mistaken the highest score you can make on the PSAT is 1520
https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/psat-nmsqt-psat-10/test-design/redesign-specifications
@3scoutsmom Yeah, I guess Barron’s got that wrong…smh
In the rush to publish, you have to wonder what else Barron’s and other prep companies got wrong in their material.
So the PSAT score is no longer in a 10% scale of the SAT?
That’s right, they have moved to scoring similar to that of the Plan/Aspire to ACT. I don’t like it.
Also, it appears that the College Board plans to go back to weighting math and verbal equally. While this is probably good for my mathy son, they are going to have a huge gender disparity in the NMSF results unless the NMSQT uses a different weighting, like 2*verbal + math. (I think I’m allowed to say this as a former NM student who is female and always scored higher on math than verbal.)
Was there a huge gender difference in the years before they added the writing section?
I had heard there was a successful lawsuit due to the gender imbalance. I have not researched this. It would have been prior to 1981, when I took the PSAT.
"Was there a huge gender difference in the years before they added the writing section? "
“Recently released statistics from the sponsors of the Preliminary SAT, the College Board and Educational Testing Service, demonstrate that changes made to that exam in order to settle a FairTest gender bias civil rights complaint (Examiner, Fall 1996) have substantially reduced the score disparity between male and female test takers. A multiple-choice “Writing Skills” section was added to the test beginning with the class of 1999.
Due to this simple adjustment, the gender gap shrunk by 40% in the first year of revised test administration. According to the new data, it narrowed by another 26% for the class of 2000. Thus, in just two years the PSAT gender gap has been cut by much more than half.
Since PSAT scores are the sole criterion to determine National Merit Scholarship Semifinalist status and eligibility for more than $35 million in college tuition aid, this means that many more females will receive these valuable and prestigious awards (Examiner, Spring 1999).” from http://www.fairtest.org/psat-revisions-further-narrow-gender-gap
If this was some kind of legal settlement, I am astonished that the College board can just drop it.
There is a “no calculator” section as well. I didn’t see that anyone above mentioned that so I thought I would throw that on to the list.