PSAT 2011 Saturday General Discussion

<p>based on las yr’s test, what would -3 be in writing? i got -2 but im guessing i accidentally circled one wrong or something… also, if this helps, last yr’s math: -1 was 770</p>

<p>I can almost see the answer to the Thoreau line question as “wistful nostalgia” now, even though I put “wry disapproval.”</p>

<p>The specific line does sound as if the author himself is essential nostalgic about the disappearance of the garden from nature literature.</p>

<p>Can anyone make a more compelling case for “wry disapproval”?</p>

<p>lol trust me. for the psat, -3 on math is a really large drop.</p>

<p>here’s the conversion table for last year: <a href=“http://professionals.collegeboard.com/profdownload/understanding-psat-nmsqt-scores.pdf[/url]”>http://professionals.collegeboard.com/profdownload/understanding-psat-nmsqt-scores.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>i remember, because i got -2 on last year’s psat and got a 73. QQ.</p>

<p>hmm I didn’t think the writing section was that big of a joke. I felt that it was harder than this year’s practice test.</p>

<p>thanks immadinosaur, do you think -4 on CR would put me out of the game?</p>

<p>Why would the make such a debatable question? Does the fact that different answers can be supported by different pieces of information go into their curve?</p>

<p>Hey, immadinosaur, what did you put for the wry disapproval/rueful confession question?</p>

<p>@Laurier</p>

<p>for those lines, i was actually pretty confused too LOL. i thought he was being objective, simply stating that no one wrote about gardening, no emotion, nothing. </p>

<p>but the question threw me off a bit.
i guess the “tone” of those lines is evident in his word choice. he said “essentially banished”, and i thought those words exemplified disapproval. </p>

<p>i did consider rueful confession and wistful nostalgia at the time. i ruled out rueful confession eventually, because i thought he wasn’t regreting anything. in my head, a rueful confession would be a criminal saying “oh, i did it, but i regret it” in the most simple terms LOLL.</p>

<p>for wistful nostalgia…eh. it was really between this one and wry disapproval for me. i felt like wry disapproval meant he was skewed in favor of gardening and thus disapproving of thoreau’s influence. wistful nostalgia requires a little more of a stretch, meaning you’d have to see that a longing in his words, which i felt was less obvious, if existent at all, than his disapproval, so i went with wry disapproval.</p>

<p>@jungrobilly, this question referred to specific lines i guess, so there must’ve been something standout about his tone in the indicated lines. i …couldn’t find much, but i’m sure some brilliant passage analyst out there did.</p>

<p>@daniel, nah i dont think so. i think you’ll still be fine. cr was trickier this year (esp with the dual long passage QQ), so you’ll be fine i think.</p>

<p>though ny is known for its disgustingly high cutoff for NMS. -___- i’m from cali, similar situation here.</p>

<p>How does the College Board determine which question(s) to throw out? Does the process begin with irate collegeconfidential students relentlessy e-mailing the testmakers… or?</p>

<p>Just kind of curious.</p>

<p>@immadinosaur, thanks. cant believe i got two wrong on math, such dumb mistakes. i think im at a 220 right now, which is just 1 point above last years cutoff. so i basically cant get another question wrong :/</p>

<p>@daniel im sure you’ll be fine. i mean, i’m just one person. i could be completely wrong LOL.
and i feel like the cutoff will be lower than last year’s. does anyone know how the cutoff is determined? is it the top 1 percentile score? </p>

<p>right now…i think i’m looking at -1 cr (maybe -2 if wry disapproval is wrong), -0 math, -0 writing. but i mean, i make dumb mistakes. anything could happen. but even if i did mess up really badly, nothing i do now can change it.</p>

<p>@immadinosaur, thanks:) if i was in your position id say the same thing, but unfortunately im not, so i will have to worry until december lol</p>

<p>Would ETS ever throw out a question?</p>

<p>^^^…dang you’re a beast.</p>

<p>I"m looking at -1 cr, -1 writing, -4 math.</p>

<p>I believe that a writing question was thrown out on the 2007 Saturday PSAT. At least… thats why I think the score conversion table doesn’t display a score for 39 points. :-p</p>

<p>so you guys think the cutoffs will generally be lower than those of last year?</p>

<p>I think the wry disapproval and flipping the switch questions are the hardest to agree on. I still stick with my choices of wry disapproval, and flipping as incorrect, but I’m not confident in either. With those right I think I’m still looking at -0 -0 -0, but those could definitely swing either way. As long as I get NMSF I’m happy, Massachusetts though…</p>

<p>I predict…

  1. A more generous writing curve
  2. A (sadly for me) harsher math curve
  3. A critical reading curve that stays the same.</p>

<p>sorry if this has been repeated, but what was the math question for nd = 180?</p>