PSAT Scores

[VickiVM]

My son is a Freshman and got his PSAT score back today - 177, 57 in Reading, 56 in Math and 64 in Writing.

Can someone interpret these for me - how helpful are these tests?

 

[Barb D]

You can go to the College Board web site and get tons of information. You can create an account for your son, and even compare his scores to the average scores of the colleges he's interested in.

I forget how PSAT scores translate into predicted SAT scores. Maybe someone else here will remember...

 

[aldisneygrl]

If you add a -0- to the end of the number, that is the equivalent of the SAT score.

It also says that don't be discouraged if their scores are low the first time, as it isn't the "real" test, just a trial run.

The college board website that is listed on the test results should be helpful.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

They are very helpful if you are looking for scholarship money.

Your son is a freshman. Jr year is when you take the "PSAT" for real and it counts toward getting scholarship money. It is seperate from the SAT although it is similiar.

You need to hit a 215ish-220 to qualify. It is dependent on your state and school.

 

[AC7179]

That's a great score as a freshman. My sophomore daughter scored a 169, and I think that was in the 75% of college-bound juniors.

 

[VickiVM]

Ahh, I went to the collegeboard.com website and set up an account for me and my son. Good stuff. I did find out that he scored much better than the average sophomore according to the website. His own percentile is 90% of Soph. for Reading, 83% in Math and 97% Writing. Knew the math would be the lowest as he is doing very poorly in his pre-AP Alg. II.

It looks like a perfect score would be 2400 since the ranges go up to 80 for each subject.

Pretty cool website with tons of college info.

 

[Soarin08]

When I took the PSAT, I made the highest score in the history of our high school. I ended up scoring around a 220.

 

[VickiVM]

When I took the PSAT, I made the highest score in the history of our high school. I ended up scoring around a 220.

Was that similar to your SAT score?

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Ahh, I went to the collegeboard.com website and set up an account for me and my son. Good stuff. I did find out that he scored much better than the average sophomore according to the website. His own percentile is 90% of Soph. for Reading, 83% in Math and 97% Writing. Knew the math would be the lowest as he is doing very poorly in his pre-AP Alg. II.

It looks like a perfect score would be 2400 since the ranges go up to 80 for each subject.

Pretty cool website with tons of college info.

Oh yea...

Go to Fastweb because your son can be applying for scholarships too.

 

[allison443]

Ahh, I went to the collegeboard.com website and set up an account for me and my son. Good stuff. I did find out that he scored much better than the average sophomore according to the website. His own percentile is 90% of Soph. for Reading, 83% in Math and 97% Writing. Knew the math would be the lowest as he is doing very poorly in his pre-AP Alg. II.

It looks like a perfect score would be 2400 since the ranges go up to 80 for each subject.

Pretty cool website with tons of college info.

Just wanted to add about the math, your son is only a freshman so he has a couple years of high school math ahead of him...by the time he takes the SAT for real, he will have learned more of the math that's on the test, so he can probably score higher!
Sounds like he is off to a great start!

 

[allison443]

When I took the PSAT, I made the highest score in the history of our high school. I ended up scoring around a 220.

Great! Was that high enough for NMSF in your state? Were you actually able to use a NMSF scholarship?

 

[VickiVM]

Great! Was that high enough for NMSF in your state? Were you actually able to use a NMSF scholarship?

Yeah, that's what I'd like to know - do these scores actually result in good scholarships?

 

[aldisneygrl]

Yeah, that's what I'd like to know - do these scores actually result in good scholarships?

did his score have an asterisk beside it? (*) If so, he didn't qualify, if not, he would. From what I understand, and I have a sophomore, the scholarship is very good, but I don't know specifics.

 

[mominwestlake]

My dd is a sophomore and just took the psat. She got the same 177 score as your son but did higher in math and lower in writing (same reading score). I was under the impression the scores don't count for scholarships until they take the test as juniors. Someone please correct me if I am wrong! I think she has a lot of work to do to get read for the real thing but she isn't taking it as seriously. I did buy some software that is suppose to help you prepare. I also have a dd who is a freshman so maybe she'll try out the software. I'd also love to know if the PP who scored so high got any scholarship money for the score.

 

[agnes!]

My DD is a sophomore & she took the test. On 2 of the 3 sections, she did *very* well, but on the third (and last for her) she didn't do nearly as well.

But we're not getting too upset about it. The day she took the PSAT was the day she came down with a serious virus that mimics mono, three months later she still hasn't made a complete recovery. She says that by the time that third/last section came around, hardly anything was making sense.

She did almost pass out in the car later that day. She completely missed the next week of school and was unable to attend a full day until a couple of weeks later.

I think her score will improve next year on many levels, one reason being she'll probably feel a lot better on test-day!

agnes!

 

[allison443]

Yeah, that's what I'd like to know - do these scores actually result in good scholarships?

National Merit finalists are eligible for National Merit scholarships from three sources: corporations (if a parent works there), the National Merit corporation itself, or individual colleges/universities. These are not necessarily full-ride scholarships. Four years ago I was looking at this with my oldest child, there are only a few schools that give full rides for National Merit, one is University of Tulsa and there is one in Arizona I believe.

However, excellent SAT scores can help with other scholarships as well as college admissions

 

[VickiVM]

My dd is a sophomore and just took the psat. She got the same 177 score as your son but did higher in math and lower in writing (same reading score). I was under the impression the scores don't count for scholarships until they take the test as juniors. Someone please correct me if I am wrong! I think she has a lot of work to do to get read for the real thing but she isn't taking it as seriously. I did buy some software that is suppose to help you prepare. I also have a dd who is a freshman so maybe she'll try out the software. I'd also love to know if the PP who scored so high got any scholarship money for the score.

I also understand that colleges only measure Math and Reading - writing (which he performed best in) does not count.

The high scorer either hasn't been back online to answer questions or the high score is as far as it went. Dying to know if/how that high score benefited that person.

 

[allison443]

I also understand that colleges only measure Math and Reading - writing (which he performed best in) does not count.

The high scorer either hasn't been back online to answer questions or the high score is as far as it went. Dying to know if/how that high score benefited that person.

The writing section was introduced about four (?) years ago, for the first few years most didn't count it but many do count it now!

 

[agnes!]

My dd is a sophomore and just took the psat. She got the same 177 score as your son but did higher in math and lower in writing (same reading score). I was under the impression the scores don't count for scholarships until they take the test as juniors. Someone please correct me if I am wrong! I think she has a lot of work to do to get read for the real thing but she isn't taking it as seriously. I did buy some software that is suppose to help you prepare. I also have a dd who is a freshman so maybe she'll try out the software. I'd also love to know if the PP who scored so high got any scholarship money for the score.

There was some paperwork that came with the test results (& also the PSAT website)...once I went through those resources, i understood the PSAT somewhat better. For instance, I hadn't previously realized that the PSAT is what qualifies a student for the Merit Scholar program - not the SAT (D'oh!).

mominwestlake - I think you're correct about taking the test when a student is a junior - that's when the qualification for Merit status takes place, *but* does anyone know if a score is high enough could qualification take place earlier in a student's high-school career?

I think that scores have to be in the top 99% for initial screening into the Merit program (Semi-Finalist, Finalist, Merit Scholar). Anyone know for sure?

agnes!

 

[allison443]

You have to qualify with your junior year scores. Only juniors are considered as being in the scholarship competition.