No one at my D’s had there scores uploaded properly and all are waiting for emails because the GC cannot download the access codes for them. After talking to the CB yesterday and info my D heard from her school it appears this is what happened:
The school “bulk” registered all the Sophomores for the PSAT last year and paid for their testing as it is used for AP placement, etc. They had CB accounts created but they were not the online accounts so the results were only available through the paper copies that were controlled by the GC office.
For Junior year PSAT is optional so we had to pay ourselves but the school still did the registration. My D created an online account (actually used the one from her AP exams).
So now the CB’s "powerful tracking system’ is confused about where to load the 2015 PSAT scores because my D has two accounts; the original she cannot access and her online. CB said we need to wait until the access code is emailed so she can associate the 2015 PSAT with the online account.
What is really disappointing is the GCs where not given access codes and CB says they cannot provide access codes either. If the email does not come we will need to wait for the paper copy.
@MrAustere, my husband and I each estimated this a different way and both came to the same conclusion: 218. It’s bizarre and based on some interesting scale relationships between the old and new test as represented in the preliminary concordance tables. We are hoping that it’s an overestimation. We’ll all know more once the final concordance tables are released in May.
When the letters come out in April, what will that tell us? If you are Semifinalist will you get a letter about commended status in April? OR if you don’t get a letter can we assume son is a semifinalist? Thanks and good luck to everyone!
Math 590 (Ouch!), 88% Nat. Rep Sample, 86% PSAT User
I don’t know if these figures will help you mathy folks figure anything out or not. I am an English major, and numbers are not my friend, a trait I apparently passed on to DS based on the above! Figured I’d share just in case.
FWIW: I am extremely proud of him and in no way do I feel his life is over because he will not qualify for NM. Deep breaths and perspective, my dears. You all have so many options these days, whether you make the cut-off or not. You are obviously brilliant children who will be FINE and have glorious, successful futures. (Sorry, I think my maternal instincts kicked in there. I want to make you all soup and read you a story or something. :D)
@amyandscott In April, I think the cut-off score for commended students will be known. 50,000 students will have scores higher than the commended cutoff. Of that group of 50,000 students, 16,000 students will be selected for semifinalists and notified in September. The cutoff for SF will be different by state.
@packalum I completely agree with your post. These poor children are comparing themselves with students across the country scoring near perfect scores on the PSAT. I was not a national merit scholar… 25+ years ago and was still able to find numerous schools to attend that offered scholarship opportunities. Things will work out.
So if we know the cutoff for commended in April, will that give us a better indication of our particular state’s NMSF cut-off score? Will that be based on the Index alone? Thanks.
@amyandscott The commended cutoff is based on the national percentiles and not normalized by state. NMSC wants about 50,000 total students as commended/NMSF. 50,000/1.5 Million test takers means that to be commended you need to be in about the 96.7 percentile nationwide. NMSC changes their tactic for semifinalist. They want to keep a “fair” distribution of NMSF by state so they normalize the cutoff scores for each state. 16,000/1.5 Million test takers will be NMSF… so about 1.1% of the test takers will make NMSF in each state.
I got through to CB! Was missing a piece of data on PSAT registration which I provided. In 5-7 business days, scores will be available on CB. At least it’s progress … I will know exactly how to interpret by the time they are visable!
For some reason, I still cant access my score report, and the access code from my GC does not work. However, my GC was able to tell me my scores. Is a 1390 any good? (670 verbal, 720 math). I’m still waiting for the score report to see my SI.
I go to a prep school in Connecticut. From comments in this forum and others, I understand (I may be wrong) that boarding schools in the New England area are not in their respectful state regions but rather in a special region made for the NE prep schools. If this is true, does anyone have an estimate on the cutoff score in this region, and if not, for CT? The prepscholar chart seemed a little non trustworthy (just reducing last years by 12…)
