Anonymous wrote:Yes, I got that. But that still does not answer my confusion. Suppose your 8th or 9th grader is a genius, and could have gotten 1550 if she took SAT. But being an 8th grader, she could only take PSAT8/9, and got 1430. So how is 1430 the same as 1550?
SAT is not measuring genius. They assume that every year the student learns more and are able to improve their SAT scores. Barring the exceptions of statistically insignificant groups of some genius students, College Board has predicted that 9th graders will not be able to score more than 1440 (PSAT 9) or 1520 (PSAT/NMSQT) on SAT.
I am sure College Board runs some statistical modeling algorithms etc to make these predictions. The premise is that 99% (or some very high percentage) of the times the most advanced student of 9th grade, will not be comparable to the most advanced student of 11th grade.
Now, if your 9th grade student is very high performing and can score a 1600 on SAT, then by all means let them take SAT and be done with it. There is no bar to any student taking SAT or PSAT/NMSQT or PSAT 8/9. It is just that for the PSAT/NMSQT, even if the 9th grade aces it they will not be qualified for NMSQT because that is only the junior year PSAT.