So I took my first diagnostic test today to see what I need to work on to qualify for national merit. I got a 1290 out of the 1520 for PSAT (although I made a lot of stupid mistakes). I was wondering, what should I aim for if I want to qualify for national merit? And what should I aim for my SAT (out of 1600), if I want to apply to Harvard, Columbia, or Penn?
Btw, I am a junior in HS.
No one knows what the new breakpoints will be. You can interpolate from the old 240 point scale. It also depends on your state. Some are on the low side, some on the high. Look for the thread about the current NMSF scores.
It looks like NM will be determined by “Score Index” now and not the 1520 scale.
The old sum of the scores was called the Score Index. http://www.nationalmerit.org/nmsp.php I’m not sure that will really change.
The score on the 1520 scale is 50% reading and writing and 50% math. The Score Index is double the reading, writing combined and math scores. So the new 1520 scale and the score Index are very different. The score Index is more inline with the way they’ve done it in the past with one third reading, one third writing and one third math.
I had a chat with our local test prep company and they are predicting a “score index” cut off for Texas at 210 next year. I have no idea what they are basing this off of so take it for what it’s worth.