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[Hot Lava Mama]

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Edited August 11, 2017 by Hot Lava Mama

[mamato4]

From what I deduce, unless your child is graduating in 2017 and has a high enough score, your child is not eligible for the NMSC.  For example, dd took the PSAT and I think her score is impressive but yet was not selected for NMS, but that is because she is graduating in 2018, not in 2017.

[Luckymama]

The selection index will be THE determining number for the NMSF level. Alas, no one knows what scores will work...

[Ann.without.an.e]

Where can I see the significance of the NMSC selection index that was on the PSAT score for DS?  Does the number tell me anything?

Hot Lava Mama

 

 

In the pdf/printable report, at the bottom?  It is what his NM score will be with the new test format.  NMS scores should drop about 12 points overall.  If your state cutoff was 212 last year, it will be around 200 this year.  If all of my research serves me right.  The reason for the drop is that the old PSAT was out of 240 points and this new number is out of 228. 

Edited January 8, 2016 by Charleigh

[Proudpapa77]

A lot of people ASSUMED that the cutoffs this year will be 12 points lower than last year, but the concordance tables basically blew that assumption out the window.  Nobody knows what the cutoffs will be, but it appears likely that the cutoff will be 3-4 points lower in high cutoff states, about the same in a lot of states, and perhaps even one or two points higher in a few states.  Lots of discussion (hundreds of posts) at college confidential.  

[Ann.without.an.e]

A lot of people ASSUMED that the cutoffs this year will be 12 points lower than last year, but the concordance tables basically blew that assumption out the window.  Nobody knows what the cutoffs will be, but it appears likely that the cutoff will be 3-4 points lower in high cutoff states, about the same in a lot of states, and perhaps even one or two points higher in a few states.  Lots of discussion (hundreds of posts) at college confidential.  

 

 

I don't know which camp to follow.  It doesn't really make sense though that 215/240 is suddnely equal to 215/228.  It seems like cutoffs would need to drop accordingly.  And I know the scores of two kiddos who always score at the very tippy top and would have made NMS last year had they been juniors and both of their scores dropped at least 8-10 points from last year to this year.   

Edited January 8, 2016 by Charleigh

[yvonne]

Sorry... totally new to this....  On what is the "Selection Index" based? 

 

From the PSAT score report, it looks like students are told their "Selection Index," but it sounds like nobody knows for sure what the threshold SI number for each state will be until later?  (When?)   How does CB/NMSQT determine the cutoff for NM commended, etc.?  

 

(ETA:  I know the whole NM thing doesn't count until 11th grade. I'm just trying to understand how it works.)

Edited January 8, 2016 by yvonne

[Sebastian (a lady)]

Sorry... totally new to this....  On what is the "Selection Index" based? 

 

From the PSAT score report, it looks like students are told their "Selection Index," but it sounds like nobody knows for sure what the threshold SI number for each state will be until later?  (When?)   How does CB/NMSQT determine the cutoff for NM commended, etc.?  

 

(ETA:  I know the whole NM thing doesn't count until 11th grade. I'm just trying to understand how it works.)

 

Beginning with the 2015 administration of the newly designed PSAT/NMSQT, Selection Index scores will be calculated by doubling the sum of the Reading, Writing and Language, and Math Test scores.  http://www.nationalmerit.org/nmsp.php

 

Each state has its own cutoff for what selection index qualifies a student for semi-finalist level.  The cutoff score is expected to drop, because the total score possible is lower than in previous years.  No one can really know how different the cutoff scores will be until scores are more widely known (probably not until fall when the cutoffs are published).

 

This article has a table that shows the cutoff scores for the old PSAT going back a few years.  Typically there is a little bit of a wobble, but a high cutoff state will usually stay higher than a state where the cutoff is usually lower.  Commended status only has one national level score.  FWIW, there are some anomalies, like Washington DC, where the public schools aren't great, but there are a number of high performing private schools located inside the District and attended by students in DC and local VA and MD.  http://hottytoddy.com/2014/09/10/five-national-merit-semifinalists-in-oxford-lafayette-co/