Better to take PSAT or go the alternate route and use SAT? Is there any benefit to picking up one test over the other?

https://www.reddit.com/r/psat/comments/orpwq8/alternate_entry_effect_on_cutoff_scores/

Good discussion here about the impact on alter entry on cutoff scores and if it is easier to score well for NMS with SAT or PSAT.

You don’t need perfect scores to make the cutoffs. Here were my child’s scores: 38, 36, and 37.5. This adds up to a 223. (You add them and then multiply by 2). Perfect is 228.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is the not the cutoffs. Read the article. It’s a prediction.

Actually based on 2021 data and historical trends. Private prep companies make nearly accurate predictions every year. In any case, for DMV it does not matter because these are basically perfect scores.

Ok but it’s not the actual cutoffs. Stop spreading misinformation.

DCPS didn't even administer the test so the DC number is entirely private school kids.

Anonymous wrote:This is the not the cutoffs. Read the article. It’s a prediction.

Actually based on 2021 data and historical trends. Private prep companies make nearly accurate predictions every year. In any case, for DMV it does not matter because these are basically perfect scores.

Also, commended was announced and its 207. This post is full of inaccuracies.

https://www.compassprep.com/national-merit-semifinalist-cutoffs/

This is a better source. And it says the cutoffs will leak in late August.

Also, you don’t need a 38 on each section to get a 222.

Anonymous wrote:Can a student choose to use their SAT and never take the psat this year? Or was that a covid thing?

I think it was a COVID thing. But, a huge chance that they will extend it for this year too.

This is the not the cutoffs. Read the article. It’s a prediction.

Can a student choose to use their SAT and never take the psat this year? Or was that a covid thing?

Anonymous wrote:What in the world is the point of a test that has such a low ceiling and thus no differentiation among top scorers? Ridiculous.

Low ceiling? I think you don't understand how it works, right? It has both - an incredibly high floor and an incredibly high ceiling. Plus, students have to jump through multiple hoops to become finalists. Of course, it is very prestigious for the non-hooked, non-legacy, the usual high performing all-rounder student.

Juniors have to have a nearly perfect PSAT scores to be eligible for the NMS in their senior year. And they also have to take a qualifying SAT exam with similarly high scores to show that their performance on the PSAT was not a fluke. There is a whole application process similar to a college application process with essays, grades, school recommendation and ECs that the students have to include to be considered once they cross the hurdle of a near perfect PSAT and SAT score. All of this happens in October, weeks before the seniors have to send in their first batch of college applications for EA/ED.

Commended students - 210.

What in the world is the point of a test that has such a low ceiling and thus no differentiation among top scorers? Ridiculous.

The cutoffs are out. DC, MD at 222. VA at 221.

It basically means that DMV students had to scored 38/38 in all the three sections of NMSQT PSAT. (Or 38 and above out of 40, in each section of SAT if they used SAT for the alternate entry to the competition).

https://prepexpert.com/national-merit-psat-cutoff-scores-class-of-2022/

More info - https://www.nationalmerit.org/s/1758/images/gid2/editor_documents/student_guide.pdf?gid=2&pgid=61&sessionid=6255ea52-1c19-4290-807e-e9260a275725&cc=1

Students can use their CollegeBoard online account to figure out if they made the cut. Also, they can call the NMSQT 800 number to figure out if they had registered in time to use their SAT scores instead of PSAT.