PSAT Merit Cutoffs...

Test Preparation
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<p>It looks like the writing score scale is different from last year. College Board is suggesting to add 3-4 points for those who had taken it last year to compare with this year results (e.g., 2005 writing score of 70 is equivalent to a this year 66,67). </p>

<p>I am curious whether they may reduce the cut off by 3-4 points this year to match that.</p>

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<p>still havent gotten me scores back..........</p>

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<p>Past Commended numbers (from other posters)
2004: 201
2005: 202
2006: 202
2007: 203</p>

<p>Dates are when National Merit Scholarships awarded, not when test taken. For 2007, test was taken Fall 2005. I don't know the exact percentiles for these numbers. </p>

<p>For 2006 test takers:</p>

<p>In September 2007, around 34,000 commended students will be selected based on a Selection Index score. This score is "GENERALLY at the 96 percentile of college-bound juniors who take the PSAT/NMSQT ...." (Emphasis added.)<br>
Taken from page 5 of the 2006 PSAT/NMSQT Student Official Guide,
<a href="http://www.nationalmerit.org/06%20Student%20Guide-NMSC%20section.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.nationalmerit.org/06%20Student%20Guide-NMSC%20section.pdf&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p>

<p>This year the percentiles for the 2006 test takers were:
Index Percentiles
205-201 97
200-196 96</p>

<p><a href="http://www.collegeboard.com/prod_downloads/counselors/psat/understanding-scores-no-answer-key.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.collegeboard.com/prod_downloads/counselors/psat/understanding-scores-no-answer-key.pdf&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p>

<p>But in 2006 I think more students took the test than in 2005. </p>

<p>Also, there's the correction to scale for the writing section in 2006:</p>

<p>"Generally speaking, add 3-4 points to your 2006 writing skills score to see what it would have been on the old scale."<br>
From <a href="http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/psat/scores.html#writing%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/psat/scores.html#writing&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p>

<p>Thoughts on higher or lower?</p>

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<p>Waitttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt, so if you're in the 99th percentile you're a shoo in for semi-finalist? Or is that only commended?</p>

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<p>i got i 191 As A junior psAt's And 2280 theoriginAl timE i took thE sAt's ,, sAmE jump for most of my friends ....</p>

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<p>mavman, that's heartening news...</p>

<p>-mom of 193 soph</p>

67

<p>It looks like the cut-offs will go down for the National Merit Semifinalists. 212 is 99%ile instead of 98%ile. We live in Texas, my son got 220. Last year cutoff was 217 and I think it is going down to 212 or 213 this year.</p>

<p>Writing test is supposed to be hard this year and I see 198 at 96%ile - criteria for Commended. I expect 198 or 199 will be Commended cutoff.</p>

<p>Good luck to all!</p>

68

<p>AH! I'm so mad. I was just looking over my score report for the PSATs, and realized that the reason I got two math problems wrong was because I BUBBLED IN THE WRONG CIRCLE. I have the correct answer circled on my test book. Even worse, I think that this cost me a semi-finalist title!!! (I scored 220 in MA). I am the queen of stupid mistakes. =(</p>

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<p>Will cut offs really go down? Do I have a chance of getting SF with a 219 in CA?</p>

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<p>whosthat1234 - CA had cutoff at 219 last year - I think it is going down by 2-3 pts(due to writing section curve). You have an excellent chance to be a semi-finalist.</p>

<p>Goodluck to you!</p>

71

<p>Wait, what about Texas? I got a 216 and the Texas cutoff last 2 years was 217. Any chance of it going down?</p>

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<p>"Last year cutoff was 217 and I think it is going down to 212 or 213 this year."</p>

<p>You really think it's going to go down up to 5 points??....the highest jump, up or down, i've seen in recent years was like 2 or 3....5 is very drastic</p>

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<p>Man, I really want to know what my score was.</p>

<p>Our school doesn't give them back until January 10th.</p>

74

<p>same....ours are delayed because someone from our school had to leave while taking the test or something.....</p>

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<p>D (junior) has an accommodation that gives her a large font answer sheet, i.e. marking boxes with a cross rather than bubbling in. Getting back her test booklet, we noticed that there are at least 6 questions where she circled the correct answer in her test booklet but according to the score report crossed on the wrong answer on her answer sheet. Either way, there's a problem: wrong scoring by CB or wrong transferring of answers by D. CB is giving me the run-around. Do you know whether CB manually enters her answers from block answer sheet into computer for scoring or do they run the answer sheet through a machine? Anybody has any similar experience, suggestions, advice ... that would shed some light on this? CB is giving me the run-around so far, "they're investigating."
BTW, PSAT scores are lower than 9th grade SAT.</p>

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<p>The same thing happened to me... except I used the normally sized test booklet. I circled the correct answer, but on my answer/results sheet, an incorrect answer is reported. I'm not sure how this could happen, as I always go through my answers again, to guarantee that I bubbled in the correct circle... but, I'm not doing anything (a, because I don't think that those extra points will really help me, and b, because I would be really embarrassed if I learned that I really DID just bubble in the wrong circle...)</p>