PSAT Book Questions

Test Preparation
1

<ol>
<li><p>Would anyone with experience with the Kaplan's Premiere book provide insight on whether a 216 scored according to their scale would translate to around the same score on the actual PSAT exam?</p></li>
<li><p>Which book's practice exams do you feel most accurately portrays the actual difficulty of the exam; Barrons, PR, or Kaplan?</p></li>
<li><p>(sort of a sub-question based off of 2): Is it just me, or are Barron's practice test's difficulty level really high in accordance to the actual exam? I hope its just not me...</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Thanks in advance for your time!</p>

2

<p>btw, for question 2, i mean the actual difficulty of the QUESTIONS themselves, not the raw to scaled score coverter, if that makes sense.</p>

3

<p>bumpity bump</p>

4

<p>Question 1) Kaplan’s scores are about 20 points optimistic :). </p>

<p>I got a 238 on a Kaplan Premier test (not bragging, lol). Immediately afterward I took the a released PSAT and scored a 218. </p>

<p>Question 2) The main thing about Kaplan is that you can miss a ridiculous amount of questions and still get a 80 in a section. The actual questions, however, are fairly representative in terms of difficulty. </p>

<p>Compare your Kaplan score conversion table to a real score conversion table and see the difference for yourself: </p>

<p><a href=“http://www.fcps.edu/WestfieldHS/student_services/psat_scoringinfo.pdf[/url]”>http://www.fcps.edu/WestfieldHS/student_services/psat_scoringinfo.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

5

<p>Thanks tons Iceqube, but is there anyone that can fully answer all 3 of my questions??</p>

6

<p>Is a full PSAT available online? I’d love for ds to take one. He’s been doing SAT self study, but I wonder how the scores would correlate …</p>

7

<p>No problem Bart. Here’s my answer for question 3 :):</p>

<p>Question 3) The consensus on CC is that Barron’s tests are harder than the real thing. So don’t be discouraged :)!</p>

8

<p>I have used the Kaplan and Barron’s books for PSAT prep and also Kaplan and Real SAT (Blue Book) for SAT prep. In my experience, the Kaplan PSAT /SAT scores were very accurate/similar to the students’ actual test scores, and Kaplan SAT scores were close to the Blue Book tests, also. Barron’s can be useful, but I don’t think it is as similar to the real tests as Kaplan. I haven’t used PR, so don’t know about that. I suggest using the Real SAT for PSAT prep.</p>

9

<p>hmmmm… so in anyone’s experience:
barron’s practice test (Used PR scale chart): 204
real psat(estimate): ______?</p>

<p>btw, thanks for all the above responses! :)</p>

10

<p>Yeah Bart, it sucks that Barron’s doesn’t give you a raw score -> scaled score chart in their PSAT books. What the hell does a “very good” in a section mean … lol :). </p>

<p>Judging from what people say, PR is easier than the actual PSAT and Barron’s is harder. I don’t know if that’s because PR’s curves are generous, or PR’s problems are easier. </p>

<p>If PR’s curves are easier, than the PR curve + Barron’s hard questions might just cancel out! 204 might actually be a relatively accurate reading!</p>

11

<p>^^Really? I’ve always found both the questions AND the curve in PR accurate according to the actual difficulty of the PSAT.</p>