aria123

I was sick the day I took the PSATs and I did terrible on them. I am considering canceling my PSAT score and substituting a SAT score for the National Merit Competition. Is there anyone who has been through this process before? I want to know exactly how they transfer the SAT score into a PSAT score. I called collegeboard and they told me that they pretty much take off the last 0 on the SATs, but not exactly. However, they didn't tell me the details and I really want to know the details before I cancel my PSAT score.

tag3pam

For CR and Math, they divide by 10. For writing, they remove the essay score and just use the writing MC subscore.

kimmylouie

I don't think they can take an SAT score, cut off the zero, and call it a day.

MaineLonghorn

LOL, I wish my son could have substituted his SAT score for his PSAT one! He did better by almost 300 (30) points.

tag3pam

I doubt you can cancel PSAT scores if you've taken the test, but I don't know. You'd need to call the National Merit Foundation. If you MISS THE TEST because of illness or an emergency, you can arrange with the National Merit Foundation to substitute a SAT score.

aria123

@tag3pam
Have you been through this process before? If yes, do you know the opportunity window we have to take the SATs for the score to count? And also, if we take the SATs more than once in that time window, will they take the score of the first time we took it, the highest score of one individual test, or the highest score of each section (math, reading, writing).

Thanks!

pckeller

If this is something that can be done, I will be very surprised. I've never heard of this ever until it came up in this thread. Sounds like wishful thinking to me... but maybe it just never came up.

aria123

This can be done. I already called national merit. It's just that I want to know if there was anyone who did this before and how it went for them. I also want to know the logistics of how the score will be calculated and if they'll take the highest score if you take the SAT more than once before I actually cancel my PSAT score

aria123

Also, does anyone know the time frame we're given to take the SATs for national merit? They said I have up to march to take the SATs, but does this mean including the march SAT session or only January's? Thanks!

napalm2013

I highly doubt this is allowed... Otherwise everyone would do it. It's much harder to qualify in 1 PSAT sitting than a PSAT and then 3 SAT sittings. Can you cite anywhere this is advertised?

aria123

This is only allowed on special case-by-case instances. For example, I was sick and I actually have a doctor's note, which is the only reason it is allowed for me.

aria123

And it is actually harder to qualify through the SATs because they don't count your Essay score. For example, if you get around 76 on Writing Multiple choice and a 12 on the essay, this would probably be a 800. However, they would convert it as a 76 and not count the essay.