I'm trying to understand how the PSAT is scored. Can someone explain the scoring process or point me toward a guide that explains how the raw scores are turned into the scaled scores you see on the report?
Certainly! The PSAT scoring can be a little confusing at first, but I'm happy to help clarify this for you. Each section of the PSAT is scored on a scale of 160 to 760, making the total score range from 320 to 1520. This scaling is done to ensure fairness across different versions of the PSAT taken on different dates or years.
For the Evidence-Based Reading and Writing section and the Math section, you earn raw points for each correct answer, and there is no penalty for wrong or skipped answers. The total number of questions you get right constitutes your raw score. These raw scores are then converted into scaled scores through a process called equating, which takes into account the difficulty of the test to ensure scores are comparable across different test forms and administrations. Finally, the scaled scores from each section are added together to create your total PSAT/NMSQT score.
The College Board's website offers a detailed guide on PSAT scoring, and you can even find PSAT score converters online that allow you to estimate your scaled scores from a given raw score. I'd recommend checking those out for a more comprehensive breakdown.
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