SAT score

[bethben]

So, my son took the SAT as a Sophomore because I thought we were going a different way for dual enrollment and he needed to take that test.  He got a 660 English and a 730 math for a total of 1390.  That seems like a good score?  I didn't have him do the Essay portion because he didn't need it for the program.  Should this be something he should take again?  Also, I am having him take the PSAT in the fall for scholarship opportunities.  Also, should he be taking the ACT?  When should he take those tests his Junior year?  The spring?  We're not really looking at ivy league schools for him and he has no desire to go that direction anyway.

[wapiti]

"Good" is entirely relative.

 

Some schools have automatic scholarships for various levels of scores.  Many schools that give merit will base that award in part on scores even if the award isn't automatic.  I would definitely plan on having him take it again at some point junior year following some prep.

 

I'd probably have him prep for the PSAT if he is hoping for scores at national merit levels (I don't know for sure, but off the top of my head, I'd guess that a 1390 SAT is not quite representative of what would be high-enough on the PSAT for national merit).  The most efficient way of prepping for the PSAT would be to prep for the SAT, two birds/one stone.

[Kassia]

 

I'd probably have him prep for the PSAT if he is hoping for scores at national merit levels (I don't know for sure, but off the top of my head, I'd guess that a 1390 SAT is not quite representative of what would be high-enough on the PSAT for national merit).  

 

What do you think would be a good SAT score that would be high enough on the PSAT for national merit?  Is there a way to convert an SAT score to a PSAT score?  My dd took the SAT as a freshman and did quite well, but I don't know if I should hope for national merit or not.  

[regentrude]

What do you think would be a good SAT score that would be high enough on the PSAT for national merit?  Is there a way to convert an SAT score to a PSAT score?  My dd took the SAT as a freshman and did quite well, but I don't know if I should hope for national merit or not.  

 

Here are the qualifying PSAT scores from 2015-16: (It changes a bit every year, so nobody can yetpredict what the cutoffs wil be next year)

http://blog.prepscholar.com/does-your-psat-score-qualify-for-national-merit

 

Here is a table that relates PSAT scores to SAT scores:

http://www.medina-esc.org/Downloads/SAT-ACT-PSAT%20Conversion%20Chart.pdf

[regentrude]

So, my son took the SAT as a Sophomore because I thought we were going a different way for dual enrollment and he needed to take that test.  He got a 660 English and a 730 math for a total of 1390.  That seems like a good score?  I didn't have him do the Essay portion because he didn't need it for the program.  Should this be something he should take again?  Also, I am having him take the PSAT in the fall for scholarship opportunities.  Also, should he be taking the ACT?  When should he take those tests his Junior year?  The spring?  We're not really looking at ivy league schools for him and he has no desire to go that direction anyway.

 

Students do not need to take both the SAT and the ACT; college accept either - but some students do better on one than the other.

 

To decide whether he should retake, look at the score distribution of incoming freshmen at the colleges you are interested in to determine where your son's scores fall.

 

I liked the early spring test dates (Jan/Feb) because it allowed my kids to prep over Chirstmas break.

Edited July 16, 2017 by regentrude

[Kassia]

Here are the qualifying PSAT scores from 2015-16: (It changes a bit every year, so nobody can yetpredict what the cutoffs wil be next year)

http://blog.prepscholar.com/does-your-psat-score-qualify-for-national-merit

 

Here is a table that relates PSAT scores to SAT scores:

http://www.medina-esc.org/Downloads/SAT-ACT-PSAT%20Conversion%20Chart.pdf

 

Thank you so much!  

[RootAnn]

What do you think would be a good SAT score that would be high enough on the PSAT for national merit?  Is there a way to convert an SAT score to a PSAT score?  My dd took the SAT as a freshman and did quite well, but I don't know if I should hope for national merit or not.  

 

It might be in the links posted already, but the easiest way to convert between SAT to the National Merit cut-off ("Selection Index") is to drop the zeros off the end of the SAT scores, double the English score and add the math score.

 

So, for the OP, it would be 66*2+73 = 205.

(If the two scores were reversed (yielding the same total SAT score), it would be a 212. IMO, there's some bias in how they come up with the NM score since they are giving double the weight to the English side.)

 

You're shooting to beat the previous year's cut off for your state. They moved when the SAT/PSAT were revised recently, but usually they don't move more than two points in either direction. (There are exceptions!) Here are the predicted cut-offs for the class of 2018.

[Corraleno]

So, my son took the SAT as a Sophomore because I thought we were going a different way for dual enrollment and he needed to take that test.  He got a 660 English and a 730 math for a total of 1390.  That seems like a good score?  I didn't have him do the Essay portion because he didn't need it for the program.  Should this be something he should take again?  Also, I am having him take the PSAT in the fall for scholarship opportunities.  Also, should he be taking the ACT?  When should he take those tests his Junior year?  The spring?  We're not really looking at ivy league schools for him and he has no desire to go that direction anyway.

 

Since he does better in math, I would stick with the SAT, because the math score is 50% of the SAT composite but only 25% of the ACT composite. I'd have him do some prep work before the PSAT, especially English, since that's a much larger component of the National Merit score. Then have him retake the SAT in the spring. Even if he's not looking at highly selective schools, improving his SAT score could make a big difference in merit aid.

Edited July 17, 2017 by Corraleno

[RegGuheert]

Here are the qualifying PSAT scores from 2015-16: (It changes a bit every year, so nobody can yetpredict what the cutoffs wil be next year)

http://blog.prepscholar.com/does-your-psat-score-qualify-for-national-merit

For OP: I recommend you add one or even two to the score in that table for your state as the target for your student since this test tends to get more competitive each year.

 

Here is a table that relates PSAT scores to SAT scores:

http://www.medina-esc.org/Downloads/SAT-ACT-PSAT%20Conversion%20Chart.pdf

This chart is a bit out of date, since it is based on the old PSAT.  Note that the highest selection index possible on the PSAT is now 228, not 240.  Since then, the PSAT has been matched up to the SAT.  Since your student got a 1390 on the SAT, he should expect to get approximately that on the PSAT.  As an example, last year our sophomore took the two within two weeks of each other and his scores were 1400 and 1410.  Note that the PSAT is a bit shorter and does not contain some of the hardest questions that you will find in the SAT.  As such, it is not possible to achieve a score over 1520 on the PSAT.

 

Use RootAnn's method below for calculating the selection index:

 

So, for the OP, it would be 66*2+73 = 205.

(If the two scores were reversed (yielding the same total SAT score), it would be a 212. IMO, there's some bias in how they come up with the NM score since they are giving double the weight to the English side.)

It's true it is biased toward the English side, but I think that was done to keep the selection index inline with the old PSAT score, which was out of 240.  Is it fair?  Who knows?

 

You're shooting to beat the previous year's cut off for your state. They moved when the SAT/PSAT were revised recently, but usually they don't move more than two points in either direction. (There are exceptions!) Here are the predicted cut-offs for the class of 2018.

Your student should shoot to beat the target consistently and with some margin.  Each test is different and every student's performance will move around based on a range of factors.