<p>^I wholeheartedly agree! Neither I nor any of my friends studied for the PSAT at any point, and we all had 20-30 point increases from sophomore to junior year. This was mine:
CR: 71->80
M: 61->68
W: 65->80</p>
<p>SI: 197->228</p>
<p>The jump should come naturally between sophomore and junior years. Don't freak out about studying. If you really feel anxious, take a couple of practice tests to get more of a feel for it.</p>
<p>Therifleman62-you say in your post "it doesn't matter", I disagree. If you are interested in NMSF or NMF it does matter-the whole process begins with a qualifying score on the PSAT. Depending on where you'd like to go to college-it could mean a large scholarship if you make it all the way to NMF. So for those interested-it does matter :-)</p>
<p>soph-jun-sat
CR-50-56-670
M-58-67-750
W-49-63-780
156-186-2200</p>
<p>sopho year was with never seeing a single SAT problem ever, between sopho and junior year I just did the SAT questions of the day every so often then did a good amount of studying for real thing</p>
<p>167>211</p>
<p>Agreed that the jump will come pretty naturally, but starting to prep early can't hurt, and I sort of regret not being more concerned about getting national merit semifinalist at the time.</p>
<p>216 as a sophomore, 2340 at the end of soph year.</p>
<p>192 to 223</p>
<p>Soph:
54CR
76M
62W</p>
<p>Junior:
63CR
80M
80W</p>
<p>I got a 1610 on my PSATS, and a 1780 on my SATS without studying one single problem.</p>
<p>DougBetsy, D took the practice test in the booklet handed out by the school today, and her score went up 7 points.... total :( It is a decent score but likely not good enough for the schools she has her sights on. I want her to go to a fair and look around more broadly..</p>
<p>I improved by 35 points last year. it's definitely possible to make a big improvement from sophomore to junior year, especially with a little focused prep.</p>
<p>Sophomore-->Junior year
CR: 64-->76
Math: 68-->80
Writing: 65-->76
Total: 197-->232</p>
<p>I read over all the SAT grammar rules and practice questions from the blue book for writing</p>
<p>For math I just practiced math sections from all the practice tests i could get my hands on and I made sure to go over every single answer to make sure I understood it, even if I had gotten it right.</p>
<p>And for CR, just practice and read as much as you can.</p>
<p>but overall, as people have said, most of the jump comes naturally.</p>
<p>And on test day, relax, get sleep the night before, eat a good breakfast, etc. I know this is repititive, but it's so true and it makes a huge difference. I never got above a 215-220 range on my practice tests (most of my practice scores were lower), and i was expecting to barely make or not even make the cutoff in my state. but on test day i just calmed myself down and decided i would just do the best i could and not agonize over how much more i should have prepared. it ended well for me luckily:)</p>
<p>(unlike my SAT...unfortunately between getting psat scores in january and taking my SAT in march, my scores took a nosedive, probably due to overconfidence before the test, and extreme nervousness the day of along with like no sleep the night before. hope i do better this october.)</p>
<p>anyways, good luck!!</p>
<p>dd improved 30 points from soph to jr year...school has block scheduling so not taking math soph yr at test time and then taking it jr year at test time accounts for some improvement in that area...she was accepted into the seminar prep class for first qtr (psat/sat) which she had everyday for entire first qtr for 90 min...prac tests...problem areas worked on...made a huge difference and she made NMSF cutoff for our state!</p>
<p>my progression looks like 212 (soph) -> 230 (Junior) -> 2340 (SAT junior)</p>
<p>Sophomore year, I got a 175ish on my PSAT.</p>
<p>Junior year I got a 222 with very little prep.</p>
<p>though i attribute this jump to the fact that I had literally never seen an SAT question in my life prior to taking the PSAT my sophomore year.</p>
<p>Sophomore year: 228
Junior year: 231</p>
<p>:(</p>
<p>Soph - 168
Junior - 208</p>
<p>Lol, i didnt study at all for the soph one</p>
<p>My school requires taking PSAT both years unless you bring in some special note from your parents saying you can't take it (which clearly never happens).</p>
<p>I went in without any prep both times, and went from 211 to 231. A jump just kind of happens automatically; you've had another year of study, and all that stuff. Don't stress over "studying" for it.</p>
<p>the percentile thing could be messed up. the smart and motivated kids are the ones that take the psat sophomore year, not the one who’s gonna get a 200 on every section thatll take it junior year</p>
<p>185 soph year, 222 junior year - jumps certainly are possible with the right preparation.</p>
<p>Sophomore: 189
Junior: 212 (8 point increase in CR, 3 point increase M, 12 point increase W)</p>
<p>No prep for either one. Personally, I think that the process of just growing older helps most people to do better on the junior year PSAT, like vita said. Don’t stress, get a good night of sleep, and try to answer all of the questions.</p>
<p>Freshman: 189
Sophomore: 218
Junior: 236
SAT (December): 2400</p>
<p>This is an old thread, but I think 7 points is realistic with the right preparation. I improved 50 points from a 164 Sophomore year to a 204 Junior year. I followed some conventional wisdom on CC, and it worked well for me. Things that helped me:
[ul]
[<em>]Direct Hits - this helped me do well on the sentence completions and boosted my critical reading score.
[</em>]Doing the SAT Question of the Day every day.
[li]Practice. This was the biggest reason for my improvement. Not just taking practice tests, but also going back over the problems I got wrong and finding out why I got them wrong.[/li][/ul]</p>