<p>My D took the SAT Oct 1 to help prepare for yesterday's PSAT...</p>
<p>She said she actually felt better about the Oct. 1 SAT compared to yesterday's PSAT. She said the SAT seemed easier to her.....I'm just wondering if she was maybe stressed since she is a junior and this PSAT is her one shot at NMSF.....</p>
<p>Anybody else take both and have similar observations?</p>
<p>PSAT results are ready first week of December, right??? ugh...</p>
<p>Thanks...</p>
<p>My S also took the Oct 1 SAT as a warm-up and thought that the Oct 12 PSAT was more difficult in every aspect. The proctor cut time 90 seconds early consistently during the PSAT (he uses a silent alarm wristwatch) which didn’t make the experience any easier. Last year we received the PSAT results on December 13 from the school counselor.</p>
<p>Thanks bublubu. What state are you in?? I’m in LA and our cutoff last few years ranged from 207-209-210-209.</p>
<p>I was kinda hoping that scores from Oct 1 SAT that will be released next week might be an indicator for PSAT. But I guess not…</p>
<p>S took the Oct 1 SAT as warm up for the PSAT too. I think he felt that math was harder on the PSAT. I suppose, we shall know in Dec. Since cut off in TX went up to 219 this year, NMSF is out of the question. we will be very happy if he gets commended. He had 173 last year as a sophomore.</p>
<p>Cutoff in LA actually went DOWN last year, while many states went up! </p>
<p>My D had a 192 as a sophomore without any prep. I wanted her to do major prep during summer and on weekends…well life happened this summer. My son and I had major surgeries, D was involved in care and school activities. So far the beginning of junior year with 3 APs has been difficult and stressful…but just got grades and she has a 102.5 GPA for first quarter.</p>
<p>She did do some reviewing of strategies and checking out SAT question of the day online. So we’ll just have to see.</p>
<p>I’d be happy with commended, too, but both schools she’s looking at offer FULL RIDES for NMSF! Just have to wait until December.</p>
<p>Wow! All she needs is another 18 points! My S needs another 30 points to get to commended. It is understandable if you are all stressed out over it.</p>
<p>I took it.
Math was easier on PSAT.
CR was easier.
Writing was about the same.</p>
<p>^I beg to differ, even though I didn’t even take the SAT.</p>
<p>If the PSAT’s CR was easier than the SAT’s, then the SAT’s CR section must have been absolutely impossible.</p>
<p>Perhaps I fared better because it was shorter?</p>
<p>And if you didn’t take the Oct SAT, then how can you compare?</p>
<p>^The CR on the Oct SAT was a killer.</p>
<p>@mom2them We are in CA. The cutoff last year was 221 and 219 previous to that so for him it may be a close one for NMSF. Regardless of the outcome it has been a lot of fun preparing with him by taking the same practice tests simultaneously and comparing answers. We still have a lot of work to do with SAT IIs and APs coming up in May.</p>
<p>Took the oct sat and psat is tomorrow. so cant tell.</p>
<p>My D also took both, and said the SAT was a little easier to her. She had a 209 last year on the PSAT, and did some SAT prep this summer, so I’m hoping for a NMSF result.</p>
<p>Oct 2010 PSAT: 173 (1730)</p>
<p>Oct 2011 SAT: 2000 (M 690, CR 690, W 620)
Oct 2011 PSAT pending.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>S made a 270 point improvement between last year’s PSAT and this year’s SAT. Yippie. scores make me hopeful S might make National Merit commended!</p></li>
<li><p>I still think this year’s PSAT Math was harder than the Oct 1 SAT Math. I will be really surprized if S gets better than a 69 on PSAT math. </p></li>
<li><p>Now the question is how can we help S get his SAT scores up a few points for Oct 2012?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Oct 2010 PSAT: 204</p>
<p>Oct 2011 SAT: 2320 (M 750, CR 800, W 770) 8 on the essay
Oct 2011 PSAT pending. Last year the high school didn’t release results until 1st week in January :-(</p>
<p>Two Math questions on PSAT were left blank. The goal of NMSF seems reasonable but time will tell …</p>
<p>My daughter took the SAT in October 2009 as preparation for the 2009 PSAT. Her scores were 2080 on the SAT and 228 on the PSAT. She was a 2011 National Merit Scholar. She subsequently raised her SAT score significantly.</p>
<p>My son took the SAT in October 2011 as preparation for the 2011 PSAT. We will see in December how this strategy worked for him!</p>
<p>I think that the frequently-quoted advice to add a “0” to the end of the PSAT scores to get an estimate of future SAT scores doesn’t work in reverse. Look at it this way: A student scoring 2080, in the 96th percentile of SAT test-takers in October, is compared to all SAT test-takers, including seniors. The same student who scores 228, in the 99th percentile of PSAT test-takers, is compared only to first-semester juniors. Also, the essay component that is present on the SAT but not the PSAT can skew the results, and the fact that the PSAT is shorter than the SAT can have an effect as well. I would love to hear other comments and analysis, as I’m quite curious about the likelihood that my son will also be a NMSF!</p>
<p>Careydscl, my son left one math question (the last grid-in) on the PSAT blank but completed all the math on the SAT. Don’t count your chickens, but your SAT scores were impressive and yes, I think your goal is quite reasonable!</p>
<p>Several people have commented that the math on the October PSAT was harder than the math on the October SAT, and I think my son would agree. However, this doesn’t mean that those who didn’t score well on the October SAT’s math section should worry about their PSAT math scores, as National Merit cutoffs are determined by percentiles (by state). If the PSAT math section was unusually hard, the score needed to be in the 99th percentile will be lower, as it was hard for everyone. The cutoffs by state for last year are only guidelines as to what the cutoff will be; as I understand it, the cutoff is recalculated every year.</p>
<p>careydscl, your kid had a similar increase as mine, that is so funny. Now if my S could have a similar increase (20 points) as Schokolade’s D, between OCT SAT and PSAT … never mind, I don’t think that is really about to happen lol. </p>
<p>Schokolade, I agree, I think essays make a big difference. My kid who usually scores low on essays, should do better on the PSAT. I am guessing his Writing scores could imprve by about 4 points (62 -> 66). In addition, I found S reading a book on grammar after the SAT. Who knows, that might help him too.</p>
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<p>The SAT percentiles are calculated by comparing the score with last year’s graduating senior class (which currently is the class of 2011). These percentiles will remain fixed through the June test.</p>
<p>While the SAT and PSAT percentiles are based on two different groups, nonetheless the PSAT score times 10 is an accurate estimate of the SAT score and vice versa. The PSAT writing score can be used directly to estimate the SAT writing multiple-choice subscore. The scaling curves compensate for the different length of the PSAT and the slightly different content.</p>
<p>Math and CR were easier on the PSAT, but Writing was harder (on the PSAT as well).</p>