<p>I'm currently a sophomore and decided to take the PSAT without studying to see how it goes. I felt good-ish about it... When I got it back, however, I literally cried for a few hours. I got a 158. And I JUST finished a practice PSAT and scored a 165. Not much better, but an improvement? </p>
<p>In conclusion, any testimonies, tips, stats?! I really want to raise my score to at least 213 (cut off for Missouri) by junior year for National Merit. </p>
<p>Focus on SAT prep. Books focusing specifically on the PSAT are a waste- they’re not on the SAT level and you may as well combine both forms of studying, because in the long run, it’s the SAT that matters most.
I can’t give advice on math, because that’s not exactly my big area (I’ve been told that the Blue Book helps, though), but for both English sections- READ, READ, READ. The more you read, the more of a sense you get for correct grammar and sentence structure, the better your reading comprehension gets, the more your vocabulary expands. Exposure to proper English is vital. I’m sure that the Blue Book can help with this as well, but not anywhere near as much as actual reading. Memorizing lists of vocab books is fine but not even close to comparable.
(I have 800s in both CR and W on the SAT.)
What goes without saying is to get a good night’s sleep the night before, to eat a good breakfast that day and not to stress. Millions of people every year take these tests and survive.
Just remember, though, it’s not that easy to make a jump as extreme as you want. Don’t count on it THAT much and don’t be disappointed if you don’t make it. (I jumped 11 points from sophomore year to junior year without studying- I’m sure that if you study you can jump many more points than that, but it’s still a pretty tall order.) The PSAT is not the be-all-end-all to ANYTHING, so please don’t stress over it.
Good luck!</p>
<p>Bare in mind that PSAT/NMS is not a competition for test preparation. There is no guarantee one would get above the cut off score even after thorough preparation. It will only bring you to a higher plateau score. So don’t set a goal that is unreasonable high. Just try your best to score the highest you can get and be happy with it.</p>
<p>150 is average for a junior IIRC. You did well. Keep in mind that the cut off is really being in the top 1% in your state. If you improve that much it is likely that other in you state will move up too and the cutoff will go up. </p>
<p>I agree with above post. Do your best. Focusing on a score will only tend to disappoint. D1 got 158 as freshman and 169 as sophomore. Not reasonable to expect huge changes unless you made an error in filling out the form. Since your practice is in line that is not likely. </p>
<p>Much more to success in life than PSAT or even college. Do your best and be proud of your alreàdy good score. </p>
<p>If you are a student who typically scores very high on standardized tests (eg. the Stanford or Iowa tests), I think you can raise your PSAT score quite a bit with some concentrated effort. </p>
<p>My daughter’s first practice test score was significantly lower than her eventual PSAT score. We spent 3 intense weeks of doing 8 practice tests, correcting and understanding her mistakes. We also spent extra time on any area that she did not understand well. I bought a PSAT book from Amazon and found free sample PSAT tests online.</p>
<p>As a result of her hard work, she was blessed to be name a NMF in February. It would not have happened without taking lots of practice tests. They really showed her the timing and patterns of the test and allowed us to see what she needed to work on.</p>
<p>Good luck to you! </p>
<p>First of all, there is generally an increase between sophmore year and junior year on the PSAT.
<a href=“PSAT/NMSQT Scores – SAT Suite | College Board”>College Board - SAT, AP, College Search and Admission Tools;
<p>So if you have all 53’s, say, then your score Junior year might be 174 according to the above.</p>
<p>But to do even better than that, like other said, read read read.</p>
<p>Then if you want, get the SAT blue book from the college board and do practice tests. When you get somethign wrong, figure out why.</p>