I just got my PSAT scores back and scored a 220 on the index. I’m not terribly pleased with this (made a couple stupid mistakes and could have done a lot better), especially because I’m in Illinois, where the cutoff was 221 last year. Obviously, I have to hope that that drops a point. Could the alternative PSAT on October 24th having an absolutely brutal curve (look it up) mean that scores could be a bit lower, making it possible that the cutoff drops?
If it has a brutal curve, that means the test was easier. Wouldn’t be expecting scores to be lower as a result. You’ll know a lot more once the Commended number is released in the Spring. NMSC doesn’t announce that but you can follow some pertinent forums or call them to get the magic number. Keep in mind that individual states might go up or down despite general trends. We did see that this year (although IL wasn’t one of them).