<p>Freshman: 213
Sophomore: 236
Junior: Nov. SAT: 2400, Essay: 9</p>
<p>I’m expecting a 240 on this shiz.</p>
<p>Rural 56 - In 2009 the 98th percentile went from 211 to 206.</p>
<p>My school has yet to release our scores though they already have them :(</p>
<p>All these dramatic jumps between freshmen, sophomore, and junior years make me wish I had taken it this last two years. This was my once and only time.</p>
<p>I’m in the same boat with a 2400 on the Nov SAT; I have this awful feeling that I’ll do much worse on the PSAT…</p>
<p>The PSAT curve (by that I mean the lookup table that converts raw scores to scaled 20-80 scores) is not correctly described as “national” or “state”.</p>
<p>The difficulty of each PSAT varies slightly; the curve adjusts for this variation so that a score of 70 in math on this year’s test, say, corresponds to the same math proficiency as a 70 on last year’s test. The Wednesday and Saturday tests may have different curves since the tests are different and may be a little different in difficulty.</p>
<p>The cutoffs for national merit etc are determined by scores and score percentiles; the actual test curve becomes irrelevant at this point. This is done first on a national basis to determine commended students (generally 96th percentile nationally) and then on a state-wide basis to determine semi-finalists. This last step is done to ensure that each state has a number of semi-finalists in proportion to its population.</p>
<p>See [this</a> guide (pages 5-6)](<a href=“http://www.nationalmerit.org/student_guide.pdf]this”>http://www.nationalmerit.org/student_guide.pdf) for a complete description.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>-.- If you scored a 2400 on the SAT, you did more than fine on the PSAT.</p>
<p>thanks wemel- where did you get that? sooo - if the the 98th percentile was lower last year than this would it be a stretch to consider that a 209 last year is better than a 209 this year? or is it the other way around? What I am trying to get at is if the curve is likely to move up or down. </p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>I don’t understand what you mean. The curve has already been determined and it has been used to determine all the students scores already, it plays no further part in the PSAT whether it be National Merit or the percentiles.</p>
<p>A 209 last year is meant to be the same as a 209 this year.</p>
<p>I am struggling with this also. On Page 3 of the Understanding 2010 PSAT Scores they give Selection Index Percentiles. I also have the copy of the 2009 Selection Index. In 2009, a score of 213 was in the 99th percentile. In 2010, a 213 is in the 98th percentile. Does that mean anything?</p>
<p>It means we got smarter.</p>
<ol>
<li>74-r, 78-r, 71-m</li>
</ol>
<p>So as Rural56 was asking, would a state cutoff of 209 go up or down with the percentiles moving like that?</p>
<p>"All I’m confused about is how an 80 is the 99th percentile but a 65 is in the 97th.
Yes I understand that 2 percent is ALOT of people because many took the exam; "</p>
<p>The standard deviation of each PSAT test is about 15 points, and the distribution is normal.
If this language is new to you, google ‘bell curve’ and consider what happens at the margins.</p>
<p>wemel, Where did you find 2009 data? Do you also have the data from 2008? Since 98% was lower in 2009 compared with 2010, the cut off will go up if anything. I am sure it doesn’t follow directly like that. If you have 2008 data, you can see if it works that way.</p>
<p>Bump. Can someone help please.</p>
<p>In SAT, Out of Critical Reading and Writing scores , which is MORE important for colleges?</p>
<p>Do both of them get the same weightage or is it true that Critical reading scores are given more importance?</p>
<p>For example,</p>
<p>Math 80 , CR 60, Writing 70
Math 80, CR 70, Writing 60</p>
<p>Typically how will the colleges view each of the above options and which is considered to be better?</p>
<p>thanks</p>
<p>@query123, I think that having a higher CR score is more important. Some schools might not even take the Writing score into account since it is relatively newer addition to the test.
Also, I think how important the scores are will depend on the school you are applying to.</p>
<p>Any chance that a 216 will make the cut off for NMSF in New York? Have cut-off scores ever gone down? Do colleges take Commended seriously, or do they only value SF? Do colleges, particularly the selective Eastern ones, take into account the fact that a student in New York who didn’t make SF may have a much higher score than a student in a less populous state who did qualify?</p>
<p>The last four years in Arizona have been: 211, 209, 210, 209.</p>
<p>What was the 99% nationally in the last four years?</p>
<p>^Cannot find that info, but would assume that it would be higher. For you guys out there who know statistics, isn’t the important question for the individual: How well did the cohort taking the test in my state do this year? If, on the whole, they did better, the cut-off will go up. In my S’s case, with his AZ 209, he needs for this year’s cohort of juniors to perform about as well or worse than last year’s cohort.</p>