<p>Did anyone take the PSAT on October 20? I think most of us in Florida did because of the stress from the hurricanes. Does anyone know the curve for this, because most of you all took it on October 13. I seriously doubt they would give the exact same version twice, so the curve has to be different. But as for the curve for the 10/13 version, I am the utmost terrified!</p>
<p>excuse me…by recent check via collegeboard it seems most schools in Fl DID give the PSAT October 13…our school district (Hillsborough) postponed it to the 20th. does this mean we got a different test altogether? or did we take the same test as the given on 10/13? I sure hope not, b/c then im screwed :(</p>
<p>JMarsh, how did you get the scores. Through mail or your school. Did you have to ask or did they give them out to everyone? Do you know anyone else’s scores?</p>
<p>Your scores are all in the same percentile as testing last year, except for verbal, which was 96th percentile last year.</p>
<p>This handy page shows the scaling/percentiles along with composite index scores for 2003:</p>
<p><a href=“College Board - SAT, AP, College Search and Admission Tools”>College Board - SAT, AP, College Search and Admission Tools;
<p>About 3rd or 4th page in…</p>
<p>I thought started from two years ago, the national merit cutoff changed to top 0.5% because of the increasing of the number of people who took the test; so, 99% on the index does not gurantee you will be a semifinalist?</p>
<p>please comment!</p>
<p>that blows if that’s true</p>
<p>I’m pretty certain that semifinalists represent the top 1% of their state (an equal number of scholars are chosen from every state, which is why CA, NY, MA are so tough) However, there are 16,000 semifinalists chosen…so I don’t know…</p>
<p>99% total will not guarantee you semifinalist status, as some competitive states cuttoff is very near what the collegeboard deems the 99+ portion (99.5% and higher, I’m assuming). For most states however, this does hold true.</p>
<p>Yeah, I don’t think I’ll be a semifinalist because I live in New York where last years cut-off was 218, so yeah that really sucks, but the scores were sent to my school. No one else from my school has seen theres yet, I only saw them because my guidance counselor took me out of class because it was the highest he’d seen in his career (he’s only been there a few years, but it’s still cool, hehe)</p>
<p>Okay, I just sat back and really thought about it for a second, does this mean that some kid with a 205 from West Virginia or Arkansas will become a national merit finalist and I won’t even though I go to a very non-competitive school in UPSTATE NY where less than half the students go on to four year colleges, and the scores for NY are skewed by all the rich, competitive schools down state? THat REALLY SUCKS! I don’t understand the reasoning behind that, if you live in some state like South Dakota or Wyoming with a crappy education system, you’ll already get a break in college admissions and you won’t need to be a national merit scholar, whereas in a state like NY where you’re at a disadvantage when applying to colleges, you must also be judged with higher standards in this type of thing too. I don’t know where they’ll draw the freaking line when it comes to stuff like this, it sucks. Thank you all for listening to me rant, you can continue with your discussions…</p>
<p>well, i guess b/c college board doesn’t want to exclude some state of getting national merit scholar</p>
<p>christinadwan is right, but I agree Jmarsh, it is very stupid. I think cutoffs should be made nationally, it would be more fair.</p>
<p>I think California’s cut-off should be 203 :\ </p>
<p>Don’t worry jmarsh, at least you’ll do much better on the real SATs than most of the West Virginian NMS finalists…</p>
<p>This is from the Ivywest site. Not sure if this helps or makes it more confusing.</p>
<p>“Semifinalists are determined on a state-by-state basis, and the selection index cut-off varies by state and by year. Each state’s allotment of semifinalists is determined based on its percentage of the national total of high school graduating seniors. For California students, the 1998 Commended Students had selection indices from 199-214. Semifinalists had selection indices of 215 and above.”</p>
<p>Noooo! it WAS no error for the “loan the surplus” question</p>
<p>I got my scores = 227. The cutoff is pretty high in DC. Do you think I am safe? Last year the cutoff was 223 but I heard it has skewed higher in the past. Someone said 230. That seems hard to believe.</p>
<p>Turkeybreath, did you have the Wedsenday or Sturday PSAT? Also, what were your raw and scaled scores? I heard that two wrong on the math this time was a 730. Finally, nice job on the PSAT. Hopefully I do that well. Fortunately in Illinois, the cut-off is about 215-216.</p>
<p>Turkeybreath, anybody else get their Saturday PSAT scores? Screw this, I’m going to beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed.</p>
<p>“Someone said 230. That seems hard to believe.”</p>
<p>Yeah, that does seem hard to believe. I’d say you’re pretty safe with 227.</p>
<p>I thought it tells you whether you qualified for NMS on your score report… ?</p>
<p>Still waiting anxiously in California (Saturday PSAT). =(</p>
<p>turkey, scaled and raw. what was your raw?</p>
<p>Zach, if I remember correctly, you don’t find out you if you made NM semi until September of senior year. I found this on a school’s site: (<a href=“Admission | Admission”>Admission | Admission)</p>
<p>National Merit Timetable*
Junior Year
October: More than 20,000 U.S. high schools offer the PSAT for interested juniors.</p>
<p>Senior Year
September: Highest scoring students in each state are selected and notified of Semifinalist standing.</p>
<p>You will know what your state’s cutoff was for last year, but it can change every year, (some states may go up or down as much as 3 or 4 points). You can get an idea of where you fall relative to prior year scores, but won’t now for certain until September</p>