<p>amer2834, your counselor is incorrect. At this point, noone knows either the commended or the semifinalist cutoffs for the Oct 2006 PSAT. And both are incorrect for the Oct 2005 PSAT.</p>
<p>any notion of the typical improvement from year to year without "prep?" My Sophomore got a 193 (64 R, 58M, 71 W). I suspect math will improve as he is only in geometry this year, so he hasn't been taught some of the stuff on the test.</p>
<p>Can anyone who took the test both last year & this year speak to the typical score improvement?</p>
<p>I wonder if the cutoff will go up or down...</p>
<p>The commended are usually 96%ish so... that means... around 200.</p>
<p>Oh and what percentage do semifinalists usually fall? 99+?</p>
<p>My friend omitted ONE question in math, missed none, and got a 76. how crazy is that?</p>
<p>SBmom,</p>
<p>I got a 208 my soph year and did a couple of practice tests at the beginning of my junior year and ended up with a 224. If your son wants to improve his score, I'd recommend checking out some PSAT prep books at the library and just doing some of the practice problems/tests. I thought doing some of those helped me a lot, and at the very least, increased my confidence come time the real thing. If you want to work on math, Barron's prep books are strong on math...if you get used to doing Barron's problems, the <em>real</em> math problems will seem like a drop in the bucket.</p>
<p>thanks tennisgirl :)</p>
<p>i have a 218 and im from oregon. that 3 points above the cut-off last yr (215). I hope this puts me in a safe range. <em>hopes hopes hopes</em></p>
<p>You're safe dandelion27.</p>
<p>i got a 208 in illinois....where would that put me at???</p>
<p>It really perturbs me that one can score a 202 in Alabama and be a semi-finalist, but you need a much higher score (like 20 points) in other states. My kid would have qualified for NMSF in every state but seven, and we live in one of those seven. Ugh.</p>
<p>SBMom -- you can PM me about score increases.</p>
<p>I believe AL needs a 212 to be a semifinalist, not 202. that's commended.</p>
<p>My bad. It is Arkansas that has 202 as the cutoff. Alabama was 210 last year, and 208 the year before that. Still more manageable than the 222 required in my state.</p>
<p>I just sent in the ten bucks for my score sheet. Collegeboard said that they would recheck it if i can confirm myself that there were scoring errors! (I had 9 scoring errors :( (236-->216))</p>
<p>i got a 200 in michigan...i pretty sure im close to commended...but i know for sure i missed it...:(</p>
<p>So nervous--I got a 225 in New Jersey (80/80/65). Do I have a shot at semifinalist? What was the cut-off last year?</p>
<p>Does anyone here think that Semi-finalist should be a national cut-off.... not by state. It's not fair to be in the top half a percent for scores, and not be it, while others can be in the 96th percentile and get it!</p>
<p>Yeah, no kidding. But they want "representation" from all states. That makes me slightly annoyed... especially since my state has a cut-off atleast 18 points higher than Arkansas.</p>
<p>My daughter got 219 for PSAT in CA. Any idea whether she will make it to the SF list. Thanks</p>
<p>I got a 216. Thank god I live in Hawaii. But still, it's a rather precarious position to be in. If the cut-off is 218 I'm going to be helluva mad because I SHOULD'VE gotten a %$@^# 220.</p>