I know we can’t discuss answers, but did anyone else think this was true?
I’ve seen a lot of people say that. But I’ve also heard a lot of people say the SAT was easy and do much worse than expected. Wait for the scores to see.
When would scores come in?
”PSAT/NMSQT: Scores are released December 9-11, 2019“
@NJWrestlingmom , this has happened in our house every time. SAT felt “easy” but scores were always lower than expected. That’s why my kids have preferred ACT. Seems like SAT tries to trick you (according to the opinion of my oldest).
I am concerned whenever the test seems “easy” to a lot of kids. It can mean the curve will be brutal. S19 took the SAT twice - missing 2 math questions one time netted him a substantially lower score than missing 3 questions the other time.
Thanks @RichInPitt I didn’t even know my son had taken the PSAT until I saw this post and asked him.
My D took it the first year the format changed and she texted me after that it was easy. She did zero prep. She ended up with NM. My other D took it last year after prepping quite a bit and thought it was difficult. She ended up with commended for NM. Last year there were two dates and I read that one of them was too easy and it seemed to have really messed with the curve. So if it’s TOO easy, that might be a bad thing as one silly mistake can make a big difference in your score.
“Easy” is always a relative term. The test needs to differentiate the entire spectrum of students, so the average honors student that we seem to see on CC will find 60% of the questions to be fairly trivial and only 3-5 to be difficult .
But keep in mind that the math section only has 48 questions and results in a score ranging over 600 points. It’s not linear, more steeply differentiated at the extremes, so 700 is likely only 2-3 questions wrong. So if “easy” means 95% of the test was easy, that 5% is 2 questions which could be 60 points.
Yes, the downside of an easier test is that silly mistakes take a harder hit.
(FWIW, my D also said the Math section was trivial, but she spent last weekend at a 2.5 hour, 20 question, AIME-level math competition. Hopefully not a silly mistake like on the SAT, which she’ll never forget).
I took the PSAT on the alternative date, and the problems on the math calculator allowed section seemed considerably easier than the calculator not allowed section. I’m a little bit worried about having a horrible score because of a steep curve. It’s not my junior year yet, so it doesn’t affect me a lot, I’m just probably going to be disappointed with my score.