Every October, thousands of students take the PSAT exam at high schools across the United States. The PSAT is not used by colleges in the admissions process, but the results can help you better understand your child’s academic strengths and weak-nesses and suggest skills he or she should focus on in preparing for college entrance exams like the SAT.
The PSAT exam currently has three sec-tions: Critical Reading, Mathematics, and Writing. Each of the three sections has a possible score ranging from 20 to 80. The PSAT Score Report provides a score for each section, as well as a total exam score that is the sum of all three sections with a maximum score of 240.
Most parents find it helpful to consider their child’s PSAT scores in the context of national averages for students taking the PSAT at the same grade level. According to the College Board, for students taking the PSAT last year (Fall 2013), the national averages were:
For 11th graders:
Critical Reading: 47.4
Mathematics: 48.6
Writing: 41.2
For 10th graders:
Critical Reading: 42.6
Mathematics: 43.5
Writing: 41.2
While national averages do vary slightly from year to year, if your child scores at or above these averages, then he or she is developing the kinds of reading, writing, and math skills needed to be successful in college-level work. Don’t panic, however, if your child’s scores are below these scores in one or more sections. That just indicates that your child may need extra help to get ready for more advanced high school classes, standardized college en-trance exams and college-level academ-ics. It does not mean your child won’t be able to go to college!
What Do PSAT Scores Indicate About Your Child’s Future SAT Scores?
For students in 10th grade and below: A new version of the SAT will launch in March 2016, and the 2015 PSAT will be redes-igned to reflect the new SAT. Therefore, this year’s PSAT is likely to be a less reli-able indicator of a student’s eventual scores on the SAT if they’ll take the SAT in March 2016 or later. However, sophomores will have the option of taking the current version of the SAT until January 2016, so, for sophomores, scores from the PSAT this year (2014) will provide some indication of whether taking the current SAT makes sense. Additionally, this year’s PSAT will also give parents insight into the academic strengths and weaknesses of students, which will be helpful in choosing higher level high school courses and preparing for the new SAT.
11th grade PSAT results: For high school juniors, who will not be taking the new version of the SAT, PSAT scores from this year can suggest where a student’s future SAT scores might fall without any SAT prepara-tion or additional academic growth. When comparing PSAT scores directly to SAT scores, keep in mind that the SAT and PSAT differ in their content and level of diffi-culty. The SAT includes questions on more advanced concepts, and students are also asked to write an essay for the writing sec-tion. Each section of the PSAT is currently scored from 20 to 80, while each section of the SAT is scored from 200 to 800.
However, PSAT scores can be roughly compared to SAT scores by adding a “0” to the end of each PSAT score sec-tion. On the PSAT Score Report, you’ll notice that, in addition to the ac-tual scores, a range of scores is indi-cated for each section. These ranges give a more accurate assessment than actual scores in showing where your child’s scores might fall if he or she took the PSAT again, without any addi-tional test preparation or academic growth and development.
The College Board has studied the link between junior year PSAT scores and junior year SAT scores and found that on average:
- 60% of students earned higher scores on the Critical Reading section of the SAT than on the PSAT, with the average increase across all students being a gain of 17 points on the SAT.
- 58% earned higher scores on the Math section of the SAT than they did on the PSAT, with the average in-crease across all students being a gain of 16 points.
- 62% earned higher scores on the Writing section of the SAT than they did on the PSAT, with the average in-crease across all students being a gain of 22 points.
In general, students with lower scores saw the largest gain between their PSAT scores in the fall of junior year and their SAT scores in the spring of junior year.
Note, however, that these data are based on averages. Averages do not indicate what a particular student will achieve, as the academic ability and test preparation of individual students can vary widely. The data do suggest, however, that many students will earn higher scores on one or more sections of the SAT than their equivalent scores on the PSAT.
As you review your child’s PSAT scores and think about future SAT scores, keep in mind that test scores, while important, never trump grades when it comes to college admis-sions. So, high PSAT scores that lead to high SAT scores are not a replace-ment for consistently good academic performance. By the same token, stu-dents with excellent grades will not be out of the running for great colleges if their test scores are slightly lower than expected.
