How do they determine the cutoffs each year? Ours went up by one last year. Do they ever go back down?
My 11th grader didnât take the PSAT bc we knew she wouldnât qualify for NMF, but I find the comments interesting bc if accurate, it will skew scores down. For those new to the PSAT, the English/reading is 2/3 of the score and math is only 1/3. Having a high math score is not enough to balance out the 2/3 weight of the language sections.
@bamamom2021
DS mentioned the grammar part was the hardest, it is also his weakest so I didnât give much a thought.
@lkg4answers I agree!
Have you looked at some of the PSAT memes? Lol!
@janiemiranda
Look at lost 2570, the cut off can go up, stay the same, or go down. Donât know how they determine the cut off, guessing they use some certain percentile (like the lowest score of the top 5%) for each state?
@Mom2aphysicsgeek it is what it is, but the history of sexism in NM is interesting. I really find it strange that in this day and age they still feel they need to double count language to make sure they get enough female students. I wonder if things will change with more students identifying as âotherâ or ânon-binaryâ
@3scoutsmom Iironically, my daughters score higher in math!
To clarify, my daughters comments - it was definitely the reading that was harder in her opinion than Saturdayâs SAT. The math was fine both days, but itâs her area of strength.
Hopefully they will have a good curve on the reading.
@Mom2aphysicsgeek mine too! She would have passed in any state and ds was âon the bubbleâ Thatâs why I think this double weighting of Language is so silly, maybe in the 60âs or 70âs when girls werenât encouraged to take math classes but now it seems so outdated and chauvinistic.
I could be wrong but I thought the âdoubleâ counting of verbal part is due to the old SAT has three parts? Two verbal one math?
Good to hear your positive thoughts on it! my kid is taking it oct 24. he went to a 2-hr review session monday night; and when he found out that he had a two-week extension yesterday, he said he wanted to practice for it more. Hoping he does. He said that on his own â so iâm encouraged. By far math is his better subject. Very interesting to hear how that 1/3 - 2/3 came about. So - why is it that males did better in math? and females in writing? (Honestly, that mirrors exactly my DH and me; but I wonder why? Iâm not up to speed on that).
Another anecdote, DS 2014 says that test was âokayâ and the Match test was âeasyâ and similar to MS algebra.
Now, this same child calls most tests âokayâ and scores somewhere between 30% and 95% on those tests. Apparently, a test must either be catered or result in loss of limb to fall out of the âokayâ range.
NMSF not in play here; commended is a huge stretch goal.
Good luck to all.
D20 said the math was easy compared to the ACT prep tests she has been doing. The reading and grammar was hard. We will seeâŠ
S20 said math seemed too easy. The reading was hardest section. He seems overly confident in how he did, so we will wait till December to see. He already posted a 1470 sat.
Even with a perfect psat score, his grades will keep him from getting nmf.
My DD20 said the same thing as others said that math is easy, but reading is hard. She also took August SAT. I saw a post saying that 2020 can submit either SAT or ACT for NMF.
Daughter said the same as posters above about the math. Commended for her is a good chance. NMF probably not. Taking ACT the 27th. Donât really understand why the ACT results will come back before the PSAT.
DS20 took PSAT yesterday and said the same thing about Math being easy but R/W sections being unusually difficult. DS got a 1470 in PSAT10 last year. He didnât specifically prepare for the PSAT but he also took the ACT in September and scored a Composite 36. Therefore, weâre hoping heâll qualify for NMF. Our state cutoff last year was 221. So, he needs a near perfect score to qualify. As an aside, DS is in a very competitive, large public HS. They had 63 NM Semifinalists last year. Iâm glad PSAT is behind us so he can move on to other things. Good luck to your children!
Last year my D20 did not miss a single question on math. Oh how I wish math counted equally!
But isnât the math 1/3 of the questions?