No. The Ivy’s reject 100s of 2400 SAT and Valedictorian’s. The NMF is based on 1 test junior year. The Ivys could care less.
Does anyone know what an asterisk next to a score means on the PSAT report? thanks!
The extrapolation of this ‘simple math’ that leads to a change in the cutoff would only hold if the additional set of test takers is a random sample of the overall population. However, this is probably not the case; in many of the states, potentially high-scoring students were already going to be taking the test (because they were more likely to be aware and motivated to achieve NMSF). Increases in new test takers may to some degree just be picking up “everyone else.”
@CA1543 It means inegible to NMS. Either not a junior or non US citizen, etc.
Let me know what you think.
The qualifying scores are probably still correlated to percentiles. Here’s an example: the qualifying score for LA is typically two clicks lower than the 99th percentile score. So, in 2014, the minimum 99th percentile score was 213; LA’s qualifying score was 211. If the student whose GC is correct that the lowest 99th percentile score is 207 (which could be lower); than LA qualifying score would not be higher than 207. I think speedy might be right in that the 99th percentile scores would now go up slightly because you now have roughly 1500 more kids in the 99th percentile, but maybe the lowest 99th percentile score would have gone from 213 to 214??? Because in the grand scheme of things, 1500 is not that much. Testmasters predicts that LA’s qualifying score (based on concordance tables) would be 214. If 207 is the lowest 99th percentile score, than the students there would have made a phenomenal leap in relative scores. Right? And wouldn’t that change the dynamic of the other states? So really low cutoff states from the past would all be in the 99th percentile. I don’t think the student achievement in these states changed that significantly in one year.
I realize this is putting a LOT of value in the reported 207 score.
4formom: Appreciate the input. Have a question. (dnagendra2001@gmail.com)
My son did not intent to take SAT at all. Your comment above changes the decision that “atleast once he has to take and show decent score”. Does a prospective semifinalist have to take the ‘SAT Subject tests also’ along with main SAT?. Appreciate your answer (or anyone else)
@Pannaga NMSFs do not need to take an SAT Subject test to qualify for NMFs. just need SAT 1.
@Pannaga Your S does not need to take any SAT subject tests to “validate” his PSAT number. He would only need to take the SAT and score above a certain range. That target number used to be 1960 (out of 2400) on the old test, but I am not sure what the number will be for the new test. Once things quiet down at the CB, you could call them and ask what a qualifying score for the new test might be.
My son got a 35.5 on math, 40 correct and 8 incorrect. I can’t figure out how they calculated that. He also got different amounts (both numbers and percentages) right and wrong on the writing and reading sections, yet magically got the same score on each.
And a PSAT M 35.5 is considered 99th percentile for “Nationally Representative Sample Percentile” and 98th percentile for “Your PSAT/NMSQT User Percentile - National”, no state or school comparison like the November SAT had.
A 35.5 should be equivalent to 747 on the 800 point scale, if 38 is the maximum. Still does not sound like 99th percentile to me.
Also seems to me that if they start mandating kids take the PSAT and SAT, 99th percentile will be giving kids false hope, because it will drop just like these PSAT scores indicate.
I also don’t get that they say the PSAT and SAT are on the same scale - is the SAT going to have 1520 maximum, with 60 maximum for sections? It’s almost like they are begging colleges to pay less attention to test results because it is all up in the air. I know Johns Hopkins CTY is not accepting new PSAT or new SAT results for qualification.
I don’t like the focus on writing being equal to reading and math. It will hurt STEM kids IMHO (in addition to kids with learning disabilities in the area of writing).
@candjsdad I think the User Percentile is comparing the test taker to other test takers who use the college board website but I’m not completely sure.
My daughter was fortunate enough to score a 222 in a mid level cutoff state (MN), so we pretty much know she will make the cutoff (not definite, but highly probable). Just learning about the process of “validating” the PSAT by taking the SAT. We had no plans for my daughter to take any more tests. Her ACT score is high enough. She knows she’s going to Notre Dame (partial athletic scholarship and seemingly no money for NMFs). Is there a real reason why she should take the SAT? Won’t making the NMSF be enough to look good on her resume? She did score a 1960 on the SAT back in the 8th grade? Can we use that score to validate?
@mnpapa29 I think the SAT had to be taken within the past couple of years, but you might want to call the college board to see if her 8th grade score can be used to confirm. Then call ND and see if they give any money for Finalists. My D15 was a NMF, received a very nice scholarship to her school of choice that was separate from NM and also received an additional annual scholarship for being a NMF that stacked with her other scholarship. It’s enough to pay for books and a little more.
So I scored a 211 with a 1430 (750 Math 99% and 680 Writing+ Reading 99% and 98% respectively) Last year in my state (TN) the qualifying cut off was 212. Will I likely be a qualifier, on the verge of the cut, or way off? Thanks for your input.
@IsaIck32 No one knows for sure. There will continue to be uncertainty until September. This was a redesigned test with a brand new scale, and it makes comparisons to last year’s cutoff difficult and unreliable. Test Masters predicts that the cutoff for TN will be 214. Are they right? Nobody knows. My gut tells me that you are on the verge. You are certainly not “way off.” Best of luck.
“However, with this year’s scale dropping from 240-60 to 228-48 (the same 180 point spread), how is it possible for the top 1% of SI this year to NOT have a similar distribution.” I don’t see any reason to assume it should be the same. There are many factors which will affect this and it’s hard to predict what might happen.
–The test is different–who knows how this could affect things.
–The population of students taking the test is much larger, pushing students who would formerly have been in the 98 percentile into the 99 percentile–widening the spread of the top 1%. I am assuming that very few of these additional test-takers are in the top 1%–such students were probably already taking the test.
–If this year’s test were easier, there could be a larger number of perfect scores, compressing the top 1% into what was formerly the 99.5 percentile. There could even be 25,000 perfect scores and the top 1% would all be exactly 228.
–Removing the deduction for wrong answers inflates scores more as they go down and would tend to compress the spread of the top 1%.
@mnpapa29 I would have her sit for the March SAT - she obviously does not need to prep, and since Notre Dame doesn’t require all test scores, you can just send that 1 SAT to the NMS corporation, and no one else. You will likely win $2500 at a minimum, which is nothing to sneeze at. Also, you don’t know what could happen between now and next year with finances etc, so its nice to have this NMF in your back pocket in case you need it for full or discounted tuition at participating universities. I would take the SAT for that reason alone - this is a great insurance policy.
I agree with the majority of the comments. It is difficult to correlate the scores between the tests with the lack of information provided by CB so far. Here is a simple piece of data showing the divergence in Selection Index scores. my son missed 9 questions on last year’s PSAT (4 M, 3 W, 2 R) and with the guessing penalty, the result was effectively a minus 11. The score was a 215, and it qualified him for semifinalist in Missouri with six points to spare. This year, my daughter missed 20 questions (13M, 7R, and 0W) and the score was a 1390 and converted to an SI of 211 (2 points above last year’s NMSF cutoff in Missouri).
I am not sure how those scores can be correlated, but it would appear based on these results that last year’s test had a harsher curve, but given the relative similarity in selection index scores, probably indicates that this year’s test was more difficult.
Deleted
OK let’s try that again . . . @mnpapa29 I agree with @suzyQ7 - your daughter can take the SAT all the way till December (at least that’s how it used to be). Not sure you can validate the new PSAT with an old SAT so that’s worth checking out.
@Mamelot, I was told that the new PSAT can be validated by the old SAT. I certainly hope so because S wasn’t going to retake the SAT, although I think the new format is better suited to him, so hmmm…