<p>I just recieved a 213 PSAT score! Last year's IL cutoff for semi was a 214! =( Is it possible for the score to fluctuate down as well as up? I did look at the trend in Illinois the past few years and it definitely went up slowly but surely. However, the lady at NMSQT said it could fluctuate either way. But id rather have the CCers opinion regarding this. Thanks!</p>
<p>It's possible, but hasn't been that common in recent years. Using data collected from various places (including CC posts, so it's far from guaranteed) and missing some years and some states/regions, for 2005 seniors it appears that 36 states/regions went up '04->'05, while 14 stayed put and 3 went down. Biggest increasers were ID and UT at +4 each, while RI went down -2. On the other hand, for '01-'04, the next most recent two years with reasonably complete data, the average increase was 0.43, with 29 increasers and 12 decreasers, with both HI and UT dropping -4 (albeit over 3 years). As for IL, for years '99/'01/'03/'04/'05 the NMS cut-offs appear to have been 213/213/214/214/216...</p>