@slg2017 the PSAT and sat are scored on the same scale, but the PSAT only goes up to 1520, while the SAT goes to 1600. This accounts for the slightly harder questions on the SAT.
@MadisonWI Could you clarify your post? What makes you think 215 will qualify for WI?
I have no horse in this race, but why is it that takes them clear up until next September to announce the SI cutoffs for each state? For those sitting on the ledge with cutting it close SI’s that could really make a difference for merit aid, it really does delay the college process I would think.
Is there a reason that I’m not aware of for the announcements to be withheld for so long? I know I’ve complained a bit on this thread (which is a bit uncharacteristic of me), but why 9 months of waiting?
@Eingram24 should be… the cutoff’s been 221 last year and 220 the year before for texas
@ThinkOn collegeboard likes to screw us over
@ThinkOn - It used to be hard to predict 2 years back for Class of 2017 (PSAT taken in Oct 2015) since that year they drastically modified the scoring to 1520 from 2400 (Doesn’t make any sense why it should not have been 1600 like SAT? Some moron without any understanding probably did this. From the this year score report, I am seeing that they are planning to switch to 1600 from next year PSAT for class of 2020. May be - I am wrong here) Also, it looks they made PSAT more easier for more students to take on SAT rather than ACT (This is my guess. College board is an organization that is only interested in making money!) .
What I am trying to say is it’s easy to predict the cut-off now with scoring structure out already for 2 years.Rarely cut-off goes down in a given state. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t go down but most unlikely as they make PSAT very easier as I stated above. So, if your state cut-off is already higher it most likely might not change. I feel IL which was 221 for class of 2018 and most likely will stay at 221 or might go to 223 (Bigger number states like IL - 700 NMSF are given out each year (not as big as CA), the cutoff will be usually in odd number.) as well depending up on how the scores look like among children who took it this year. So, if your score is less than last year cut-off for your state, so don’t dream, it’s very unlikely. I am sorry to state this but I am in the same boat for my son who got 220 in IL.
To be NMSF it’s only a extra feather in the cap, mostly. Most Schools don’t give much money for NMF especially the children of this nature tend to seek very competitive programs. Hardly any high end schools give out money. I am not trying to down play this. Yes, if you are seeking some middle level schools some of which handily give out full tuition or full ride as well in some cases for NMF as long as you list that School as your first choice school in the NMF acceptance.
@ThinkOn Who knows? I feel like the College Board rules everything.
I’ve been googling for the last 30 minutes, trying to see if there’s an explanation (or even an educated guess) as to why it takes so long but I can’t find an answer. One thing I did see was that principals from every high school have to send paperwork on each commended student to College Board before they start deciding on NMF. They have to confirm that each student is still attending the high school and that they are a US citizen. Maybe that takes a long time to get every single high school principal to get their paperwork to CB?
For the life of me, I cannot understand why the CB does not compute actual percentiles instead of fake ones based on the prior years’ tests. We literally will never find out the actual percentile, because when actual percentiles are reported next year, they will be mixed with 2015 and 2016. Intuitively, it makes me feel like they’re hiding something, papering over something, even if that’s not the case.
The Wednesday test from this year and last year had pretty much the same curve, but this year’s test was noticeably harder, at least according to my student. I still predict that some cutoffs may go down, though that’s not really what Compass predicts (Compass predicts only a few low-population states will go down).
I already knew my score, but my sister in Kansas was able to log in and confirm that it is indeed my score (1440, SI 217). Good enough in my state. Are there different curves for the tests? The Saturday test seemed pretty easy this year. I didn’t take it last year.
@CharlotteLetter The curves are toward the end of this document https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/pdf/psat-nmsqt-understanding-scores.pdf
@WGSK88 is right that there were drastic changes for class of 2017 so determining cut off for index scores was frustrating. I also think NMSF is not that critical for the reasons @WGSK88 outlined. My son, class of 2017, was NMF. It was a nice award but it’s not as important as many think. Many of his peers, without NMF, were accepted at very selective schools. For students and families who are seeking big scholarships from those colleges that award NMF full tuition or full ride scholarships, I send positive thoughts.
My daughter has not even checked her scores this morning. I didn’t want to remind her to check when she left for school bc she had other priorities for the day. She’ll probably check when she remembers. If her SI number is not our state’s minimum, it will be just fine. Her major and colleges she’s considering won’t be impacted by it.
Good luck all!
My daughter is a sophomore, she just signed up for college board this morning and when she wants to view her score it said “this page won’t available till December 13”. Is it because she has new account? Score is available in my state today December 11.
@evergreen5 The curves look the same for Reading and Writing, but the Math curve for the Wednesday (10/11) test shows that math section was harder. A student could get four wrong and still get a 37! For the other two sittings, four wrong was a 35.5 and a 35.
Yes, I think there’s a correlation. My son got a 1480 on this year’s PSATs and a 1490 on the SATs.
Is the SI cutoff done by state of residency or state of the school you attend? They are different for me.
@chitchat1234 depends what part of the country you’re in. Does she use a VPN?
@slg2017 the PSAT is supposed to be what you would have gotten on the SAT that day. Now, that’s “on average” and we all know if you are looking at NM you are way up on the right side of the curve so definitely not in the “average” zone! Someone posted before you that her son got much higher on the Aug. SAT than on the PSAT so you see it can really swing. As for taking the SAT - why don’t you guys wait and see what his ACT is. Unless he really wants to present two tests to his colleges, there may be no need for him to take the SAT if he just misses the cutoff.
For those wondering if the cutoffs can go down, the answer is - I hope so! (My son is 2 points below this year’s). But don’t count on it. Last year the commended jumped two points, from 209 to 211. This year, Art over at Compass Prep is thinking that it could increase a point or two more. In other words, while there’s a chance it could go down, there is a higher likelihood it it will increase. Hope I’m wrong on that, btw. Most of the movement on state cutoffs was correlated with the increase in the commended cutoff as opposed to individual states moving up or down on their own (although a few did both). Whether all states will move in tandem is unknown now but not likely - the lowest cut-off states would most likely increase commensurate with the commended number, and the highest maybe only a point. This is just speculation for now so take with a grain of salt but that’s kinda what happened last year.
For those interested in seeing some early predictions, Art has a blog post going for the class of 2019 and will probably update once the commended number is out in March or April. Currently he’s estimating that commended will be 212 and has derived his predictions for each state using that as the base number.
@CaliDad2020 we are in OH, when I logged into her account from work, it said the same thing. I will try at home tonight. Thank you.
A 1310 PSAT is supposed to be what you would have scored on the SAT that day.
IL - Based on a real data from one of the Chicago Suburban schools, most likely IL cut off will be 223. Since this school has 29 students who scored 221 or higher (Class of 2019). From the new 1520 scored based-PSAT this School had only 10 NMSF (class of 2017) and 14 NMSF (class of 2018). So, if you are less than 223 don’t keep any high hope in IL!