<p>My S just got his grades back on the PSAT he wrote at school. Forgive my ignorance but how does this grade translate to the SAT and why do they write the PSAT? He tells me he got a % just like the SSAT. What is the difference?
Thanks</p>
<p>Your S got his PSAT results already? That’s surprising. They usually come back the 2nd or 3rd of December.</p>
<p>He came home from the USA last night and showed them to me. He said kids at his school said add a zero to the actual score and that is about what you would do on the SAT…</p>
<p>I’m PA, perhaps I’ll receive mine next week.</p>
<p>In 10th and 11th grades, we received a report issued by the College Board that included scaled scores and percents. Add a 0 to the scaled score to get the SAT equivalent. If your child said he was interested in receiving information from colleges, await a barrage of mail. Hope that s/he did not include an email address. I don’t think I saw the report until Christmas break, but it might have been given earlier.</p>
<p>The PSAT is a practice SAT. The scores show areas that might be improved before taking the SAT later in the school year. The College Board also makes money selling the names of PSAT test-takers if those people said they would like to hear from colleges. Finally, there are National Merit scholarship possibilities, which I think is only for US citizens.</p>
<p>Thanks! Everything is such a new experience for us this year.</p>
<p>National Merit Scholarships are, indeed, based primarily on PSAT scores - using the PSAT scores from junior year. It is a rough indication of SAT scores - with the caveat that the PSAT is shorter and therefore a bit different.</p>
<p>They ostensibly write the PSAT to provide underclassmen a sense of where they stand, and to judge for the National Merit Scholarship Program, but really, like any other company, they just want to make money (they recently introduced a pre-PSAT for 8th? graders).</p>