Hello! I’m new here on CC and I hope this is the proper place to ask these questions. I will be entering 10th grade this fall and signed up to take the PSAT in October. I was assigned to take the PSAT/NMSQT instead of the PSAT10 (although I am aware that they are the same tests). I was wondering, if only Juniors qualify for the National Merit Program, what is the purpose of testing as a 10th grader? Also, are there any advantages of taking the NMSQT as a sophmore (such as being more considered by the National Merit Program)?
One more thing: I took the PSAT 8/9 last year as a freshman and scored 1250 on a 1440 scale. What would my projected score roughly look like on the PSAT/NMSQT/SAT scale?
Welcome to CC! I’ll try to answer to the best of my ability - I am a rising senior in the competition for National Merit Scholar.
I took the PSAT as a tenth grader as well. I would say that the primary advantage is simply to get practice in. Not only practice in taking the test itself, but also in being in a testing environment and experiencing test day stress. Note : As a tenth grader, you CAN NOT enter the NMSQT competition. It doesn’t make you any more likely to become a scholar your junior year. It is simply a practice.
Unfortunately, I’m not familiar with the PSAT 8/9 score scale…but it certainly sounds like a strong score. Congrats and keep working!
@hannahvyvy last year my son took both the PSAT in the Fall and PSAT 10 in the Spring. He did this for practice for the PSAT in his Junior year. Since they changed to the format of the PSAT there are very few “official” practice tests available. National Merit is determined by the selection index not the total score. His test results for the PSAT included the selection index number but the PSAT 10 did not. You just had to do the math yourself. That was the only difference I could find between the two tests. His PSAT scores also had an asterisk indicating he was not eligible to compete for National Merit.
If you think you have a shot at National merit based on your selection index score for your state, make sure you use one of your free send scores to send your SAT score to NMSQT. If you take the SAT more than once they will only consider your highest score.
My take on it is that the different tests gradually ramp up in level of difficulty. In other words, the 8-9 test has a lower “floor” and lower high end than the PSAT 10, which has lower floor/high end than the PSAT. That’s why the PSAT score range is 160-760 as opposed to the 200-800 SAT range.
I’m still not following you. Could you give an example of how the “floor” on the PSAT 10 is different than the PSAT? I understand the psat8/9 is different from the psat10 and PSAT, and the PSAT 10 and PSAT are different from the SAT.
CB says the are the same test, same number of questions, same timing, same score scale, same level of difficulty. See the link in my last post.
What makes the “floor” different between the PSAT 10 and the PSAT?. DS 18 took both and said they are the same. CB says they are the same just trying to figure out what you think is different.
I take most of the CB’s score guidance on their new SAT tracks with a shakerful of sea salt. My decade plus of experience with CB tests is that they get gradually harder as the level at which the test is given increases. That being said, a high score on any of the tests is an excellent indicator of positive outcomes for the “real” PSAT as an 11th grader. The PSAT Scores from last year had inflated percentiles to make the test look better than the old one, and after having taken the SAT in May (and reviewed the PSAT last year with students) I know they’re still trying to find some sort of consistency among their tests. In my opinion they launched this new system before it was ready for prime time, and the classes of 2017 and 2018 are the unfortunate guinea pigs for them to tweak their approach.