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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:10th grader just got his scores, 760M and 710RW. He’s very disappointed in the reading score even though he did nothing to prep. Likely to improve for 11th grade?

Most kids with any serious shot at NMSF seem to study over the summer and take the August SAT as a warm-up. Verbal is the harder score to influence through study so be prepared that even the smartest kids may need some luck on getting a question set that works well for them.

Most kids with a serious shot at NMSF DON'T need to study.

Ok, I’ll bite. Our daughter got a 226. Could she have gotten a 223 or whatever MDs cutoff will be without studying? Maybe. But realistically the majority of even very smart kids are studying if they want to increase their chances.

My 10th grader’s 1160 score came in yesterday. It says this score is in the 90th percentile for 11th graders. So is this score good? Not looking at being a “commended scholar,” just wondering how to interpret. Thank you!

Anonymous wrote:My child just got his score yesterday and got 1350 on the PSAT. Could he become a commended scholar? Maybe at the lower end. his index score is 202

No, for 20 years the Commended Index has been 207-209.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:10th grader just got his scores, 760M and 710RW. He’s very disappointed in the reading score even though he did nothing to prep. Likely to improve for 11th grade?

Most kids with any serious shot at NMSF seem to study over the summer and take the August SAT as a warm-up. Verbal is the harder score to influence through study so be prepared that even the smartest kids may need some luck on getting a question set that works well for them.

Most kids with a serious shot at NMSF DON'T need to study.

Anonymous wrote:My child just got his score yesterday and got 1350 on the PSAT. Could he become a commended scholar? Maybe at the lower end. his index score is 202

No, sorry.

Last year (9th) got 1320 (720E and 600M). This year (10th) got 1430 (730E and 700M). No prep before 9th; one practice test before 10th. I am hopeful she can bring up the math next year in 11th PSAT. She is in calc BC (currently acing it) so math is her strong suit (but missed algebra Qs in latest PSAT - I am assuming because not much refresher since she took algebra some time ago).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:10th grader just got his scores, 760M and 710RW. He’s very disappointed in the reading score even though he did nothing to prep. Likely to improve for 11th grade?

Maybe? It’s a great score. In talking with my DC today, there are some students that increased over the 10th grade score and few that went the other way. I imagine it would be to his benefit to do some light prep to shore it up and not go in cold next year.

My kid did not prep either time (he’s now a junior). He got a 1370 in 10th (740 RW, 630M) and found out yesterday he got a 1490 (760 RW, 730 M) for 11th. So yes it’s possible to improve. I asked my son why there was such a difference in math this year and he said he is using a lot of algebra in his calc class that he’d forgotten about and did not use in pre-calc and those skills came in really handy in the test.

Anonymous wrote:10th grader just got his scores, 760M and 710RW. He’s very disappointed in the reading score even though he did nothing to prep. Likely to improve for 11th grade?

Most kids with any serious shot at NMSF seem to study over the summer and take the August SAT as a warm-up. Verbal is the harder score to influence through study so be prepared that even the smartest kids may need some luck on getting a question set that works well for them.

My child just got his score yesterday and got 1350 on the PSAT. Could he become a commended scholar? Maybe at the lower end. his index score is 202

Anonymous wrote:10th grader just got his scores, 760M and 710RW. He’s very disappointed in the reading score even though he did nothing to prep. Likely to improve for 11th grade?

Maybe? It’s a great score. In talking with my DC today, there are some students that increased over the 10th grade score and few that went the other way. I imagine it would be to his benefit to do some light prep to shore it up and not go in cold next year.

10th grader just got his scores, 760M and 710RW. He’s very disappointed in the reading score even though he did nothing to prep. Likely to improve for 11th grade?

Anonymous wrote:How did your DS or DD do? 1230 here from FCPS 10th

Why would you do this?

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Anonymous wrote:PSAT 10: 1390
PSAT 11: 1440

ouch

Will be commended and did no work to improve. Likely will hit above a 1500 now…even with little or no work.

any clue hat commended cutoff ill be this year? was 208 last year

Best estimates can be found here https://www.compassprep.com/national-merit-semifinalist-cutoffs/, though I don't think there is any estimate for this year yet. The commended cutoff will be announced in April.

It shows Compass’s initial estimate for Class of 2026 commended cutoff
Estimated range 207-211, Most likely 208

Right. The juniors who just took the PSAT are class of 2027.

No, Sophomores are 2027. Juniors are 2026.

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:What weirdo family preps their kid for the 10th grade PSAT? Who even has time for that? That is the prep, lol. Have them get a job instead. No wonder there is so much anxiety problems with kids now.

No one should have their kid prep before a 10th grade PSAT. However, plenty do take it in 10th for an indication of where they stand.

10th and 11th grade PSAT both count for the national recognition programs. So if your kid is eligible for one of those, they should prep for the 10th grade PSAT.

That’s wrong. 10th grade does not

Anonymous wrote:My kid is super frustrated that the nm cut off score heavily weights the R/W over the math. If it were the other way around, he would be easily in the running for NMSF.

I think this is true for most ppl and if reversed, the cutoffs would be higher.