I got 1230 (Reading and writing 630 math 600); though I know I could have done better
@phanakin Ok thx. Looks like I have to go back to Algebra 2 to review.
Don’t worry guys. 1200 isnt that bad. It just means we have to practice more. Besides, most 10th graders probably score around 1000-1100. With more work, you should get to 1400 and maybe 1500. Did anyone use Khan Academy and notice your actual scores were drastically different from the mock scores?
@hs2020kid: That is strange! Did you perhaps miss the free-response questions (where you wrote in), instead of multiple choice questions? Perhaps they weight those more.
@Mahindra I think @phanakin 's advice is solid. I didn’t study much either, which is also a little embarrassing or me. I am in precalc this year and had some really tough middle school teachers who drove algebra concepts into our brains. I think algebra was really key to the PSAT and for me a lot of it was just finding the questions I felt were easiest and answering those first, then learning to break down problems I didn’t feel as confident on into something I was able to handle better and at least make an educated guess.
@ltwixster Ok thx. I never really got a solid foundation in Algebra.
Does anyone use the Art of Problem Solving?
Except, I got the worst score of all of you guys. I only got a 1000, but I should have done much better than that. I got a 450 in Math, and 550 in Reading. The thing that sucked is that I had 2 classes for Algebra 1, named: Algebra 1 Part 1 (8th grade), and the other, Algebra 1 Part 2 (6 week summer course). I hate that my school does that. It’s like I can’t learn the necessary skills. Does anyone know the best way to study the PSAT algebraic concepts? Sorry for the long spiel and rant!
@phanakin - no the 2 questions I got incorrect are multiple choice qns (both are with calculator - did much better with no errors in the without calculator section). Anyway - its a moot point, another score of 10 will not do anything - I was just wondering about the scaling (especially because another friend of mine claimed that he got one wrong but got the full score for math; now I got 2 wrong but -20 and you got 4 wrong and still -20: this scaling confused me).
@Mahindra - yes Art of Problem Solving is legit. I took a couple of their courses in middle school - but didn’t do anything during high school. If schedule allows, AoPS courses/active-forum-involvement is the best way to improve one’s ability in solving complex problems - for PSAT and SAT it may be overkill but useful nevertheless.
@hs2020kid Thx. I am really interested in competition math but my school doesnt have an AMRL team.
I got a 1430 (740 M 690 R) ! But I still wouldn’t get national merit in Alabama because my score index was only 212. 
Guess I have to actually study next year lol
@nerdy01 You should be happy with that! With only some more work, you should be able to get National Merit Finalist
Didn’t practice and got a 1230 (680 R 550 M), does anyone have any recommendations for improving on math? I didn’t study, so I guess I could’ve done better, but whatever. They say the general improvement from PSAT to SAT is about 110 points, but I need like a 1430 to get to where I need to be. I am more than sure with practice I can get like a 730+ on reading, so that’s not an issue.
@ab2002 My score wasn’t too drastically different from yours (1280), so I may be a terrible source… however, I found that College Board has a lot of official practice SATs, which are SATs from the past, you can take for free with the answer key and explanations.
The summer before this coming school year, I did do a month of SAT Prep solely for the English section (because I was only a rising sophomore and had not completed Alg. 2 yet), and we used the Princeton Review’s 9 SAT PRactice Tests, and College Board’s offical SAT Prep Book. College Board’s overlapped with some of the ones on the internet, but the tests are still good, and Princeton’s was also pretty useful. While my score isn’t too high compared to most people, it helped me improve my English score a LOT. The summer before, my Reading section score was also very, very terrible. I don’t know if this applies to Math as I haven’t used it for Math, but I recommend giving it a try.
Have a good day!
@Mahindra You make a good point. We took the PSAT/NMSQT, which is essentially for juniors, so with extra prep, we stand a better chance of a higher score!
Thanks for the motivation you gave us. Stuff like that is always useful!
Have a good day!
@anthonytheboy Thx!
Really you guys did fantastic! I did so horrific for College Confidential’s standards. I got a 1000. So horrible, right? Give me advice, it would thoroughly appreciated.
My best advice is really to simply study for this. There are TONS of places online to find information regarding the PSAT. My score was 1450 which is too low but I also crammed studied for about 4 days.
@Foreboding at least you studied at all lol, I didn’t even open the test prep booklet the school gave us. I’ll definitely have to get a test prep book for next year.
1450 is not too LOW. Seriously, calm down. A 1450 is a really good score! I wish I could have scored that high! Besides, you guys are very likely to go to Ivies while I’ll probably just make the cut off for my state flagship.
Is anyone else stressed out about finals? Mine take place next week and I have a couple borderline As ://