And for my son it would be the opposite. He is a math kid and has always had more difficulty on standardized test in the English arts.
@MichiganGeorgia Darn, that is not good for my daughter at all. She is much stronger in Reading and Writing. Oh well, it is what it is. She will definitely be focusing on the ACT 
Scoring for NMSF will be different than the standard PSAT score. Reading, Writing and Math will be scored equally, just like years past.
Good explanation in this thread.
@CaucAsianDad - Thank you! I guess there is still a chance for DS.
Wait. I certainly donât want to appear as any sort of expert, but there are 4 sections to the PSAT: Reading, Writing, Math w/ Calc, Math w/o Calc. For purposes of NSM, The Reading/Writing sections will account for 50% and the Math sections will account for 50% when calculating the selection index. I think thatâs whatâs been stated above.
So, yes, scoring for PSAT vs. NSM scoring will be âdifferentâ. There will be a raw PSAT score for each section like usual. Then, there will be the âselection indexâ calculated for purposes of NSM, which is takes Reading+Writing (50%) and Math+Math (50%) in the determination of a studentâs âselection indexâ.
UghâŠI give up.
@2muchquan Wait I Just looked at the NM student guide. It says there are 47 Reading questions, 44 Writing & Language questions and 48 Math questions.
It also says: NMSC uses PSAT/NMSQT Selection Index scores
(calculated by doubling the sum of the Reading, Writing and Language, and Math Test scores) .
@MichiganGeorgia â NO! Donât give up! I am counting on you to get to the bottom of this for meâso that I can explain it to my son before next Wedâs test! KiddingâŠsort of. I just need to take the time to drill down but it doesnât seem as though there is one concise answer anyone has found.
I feel like this class of 2017 is just getting the runaround. First, the students are being forced to take the PSAT during the school day. As soon as they finish the test at 11am, they will move on to regular classes where they may have tests or homework. Team sports events will carry on as usual, as no one knew about the move from Sat to Wed testing, and the sports schedules were created long before the PSAT date change was announced.
Then the state of CT decided to replace the March standardized testing with the new SAT. No one knows if those scores will have to be reported to colleges that require all testing history be reported (Penn, G-town, Cornell, CMU, etc. Students who had decided to test early to avoid the new SAT will now have to sit for the new test anyway!
Did I read somewhere that Michigan has also adopted the SAT in lieu of their own standardized testing?
@CT1417 - Yes the Juniors are getting the short end of the stick. College board had DS and some other kids at his school take a new PSAT in the spring so they could match it against his Oct. 2014 PSAT. He didnât think it was any harder than the October one. However it was online and they had all kinds of network problems. So I am hoping they are not taking the test online next weekâŠ
We live in Georgia. I grew up in Michigan. Michigan used to have the kids take the ACT for testing purposes. This spring they are changing to the SAT. Not good timing IMO.
The part that is alarming is that apparently Michigan announced this in early Jan and the CB page still says almost nothing about it other than listing the date:
https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/state-partnerships/michigan
CT only announced this change in early August for this coming March, so I canât begin to guess when CB will sort this out. I do not know why CT chose to implement this change for the first sitting of the new exam format. I mean, I know that the CB is trying to make up the ground they lost to ACT takers in states that use ACT as standardized testâŠbut they must have offered a deal to Michigan and CT to have them jump on board so quickly. VERY FRUSTRATED, but nothing I can do about it!
Of course, CB using a spring administration to compare to an Oct testing is a bit flawed as those students were now a half year or more further along in their education. Shall be interestingâŠ
My S gets his updated class rank the day after the PSAT. Everyone warned me that
Junior year was really tough emotionally and with homework. He had a hard workload the past two years so I figured it would be more of the same. I was wrong! Add test prep and stress and finding the time for college visits to the mix and things are getting crazy around here. He wants to try the old SAT in December and January and see if he can avoid the new SAT. Anyone visited any interesting colleges this summer or fall?
@jedwards70 â if you talk to parents of HS Seniors trying to decide about ED vs EA vs SCEA, you might feel a bit more calm! Jr year is an endless slog, but I felt that the first two months of Sr year were more stress-filled. Of course, check back in a year with me to see if the experience was different with child #2.
We have deferred all college visits to the Feb & April school breaks, other than a quick visit to UW while in Seattle this summer. Hope that winter snow storms do not derail our travel plans. Sonâs list is an interesting mix of highly selective universities and state schools known for CS. Having looked up admit rates to CS departments, I may encourage his secondary interest of math.
He was dragged along on his older brotherâs college visits, plus he has spent time on the campuses of NYU, Yale, and MIT for one-day programs (Splashâa day or weekend of classes taught by undergrads and grads of the university). So I do not feel that he needs to see college campuses to determine what type of college he is looking for, whereas that was important with my older son. He will actually want to meet with professors whereas older son never would have. Different pathsâŠ
We will also be doing a few college visits over winter and spring breaks. Like CT1417, S was dragged along while we visited quite a few schools with D15. S wants a completely different school type than D wanted, so her college visits solidified what he doesnât want (half the battle). We will visit San Jose State and Cal Poly SLO in Dec. and Arizona schools in March. Then schools in Washington, Oregon and maybe Colorado this summer, and may visit a few eastern schools, but after touring the east, south, and west with D, S prefers the western US. I doubt he will apply ED to any school because we donât want to limit the financial options. I will encourage him to apply EA to any school he is interested in that offers it. D so appreciated knowing that she had acceptances before Christmas and I think S will like that too.
We went to the EEE Evening Program last night in Sacramento (drove from the Bay Area and got home at 11:30 pmâŠugh). It was Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Rice and UChicago. It was pretty informative. And of course, each of them make their school sound like the best one ever! Columbia is my daughterâs first choice and she will likely apply ED. She is also interested in Brown and maybe UChicago. So it was definitely worth the trip (time off work, gas, dinner, Starbucks, etc.). She suddenly expressed an interest in Tulane, which shocked me since before she was strictly East Coast and CA. They are having an evening event in SF in a couple weeks so weâll be attending that. Iâm glad sheâs expanding her horizons and thinking about schools that have a higher admittance rate. Those application fees are starting to add up quickly though!
We did a similar college info session with UPenn, Stanford, Harvard, Georgetown and Duke. It also was informative and make those schools seem very attractive in everything except price. My son surprisingly expressed interest in Georgetown!? He already loves Stanford and did a summer program there, but never has seemed interested in eastern schools.
@mtrosemom Weâre going to tour Stanford on Monday. Sheâs out of school so I took the day off. Iâve seen the campus before and itâs gorgeous. When we go east sheâs looking at Georgetown too, which is great since sheâs interested in poli sci. As for price, as long as we are able to get the NCP waiver, most of these schools will be affordable to us. Getting in is another story! LoL.
I donât know if Tulane has changed their policy, but they either did not charge an app fee or waived it via email easily. Also, they will offer $$ for high test scores. I know of several students who were offered $25K/year, but I also wondered if that was a bit of a recruitment strategy on their part. Those offered the merit aid would not have qualified for FA, so they would be full pay after the $25K. (No infoâjust idle speculation on my part.)
And I assume you all know that G-town wants scores from three subject tests.
@CT1417 I thought every student took the PSAT on Wednesday. Iâve never heard of it being offered on a Saturday. Our school does have a half day that though. I agree that if your child plans to apply to schools that want all scores and you already have the score you want they should opt out of the one the school is using to replace other standardized testing. Usually itâs easy to opt out.
Test has always been administered on Saturdays at public schools and Wednesday at private schools, at least around here. CB forced this change so school had no say in the matter. Teachers and coaches are not used to giving it any thought, since it was always a Saturday, so everything goes on as always. HUGE bummer for these students, especially those who are w/in range of NMSF.
As to the state testingâŠI do not know what will happen with that one. I know that the school used to need a set percentage of students to participate in the tests, to the point where the secretaries made phone calls home for make-up day. I donât know what will happen this year, and again, really only applies to that small group who decided to get testing out of the way before implementation of new exam format.
@CT1417 Thanks for the info. I hadnât priced the application fee yet at Tulane, but I know so far UChicago is the only school sheâs applying to that has no application fee if you apply for financial aid. Iâll definitely check Tulane as itâs new on her list. We donât qualify for automatic fee waivers from her high school counselor, but Iâve heard some schools will offer them when you visit or after you take your PSAT (w/ good scores of course) as an incentive to apply. I did look up the Tulane merit scholarships which do seem generous. It would definitely be needed for us as they do not meet full need.
I didnât know about Georgetown, but Iâm sure my daughter knows this. She is planning to take the ACT not the SAT, but will take some subject tests in her strong areas. Good to know they require three!