Is this a good PSAT score to be on the right trajectory for college?Answered
I’m just finishing up 9th grade, and I took my PSAT in the fall. I got a 1000 (560 in reading and writing, 440 in math). I’m feeling like this isn’t a great score, especially on the math portion, but I’m looking for advice from people who know more than I do. My final gpa is a 94.7, if that helps in determining my trajectory. Thank you!
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3 answers
Your 560 is about an 80th Percentile score and your 440 is about a 40th percentile score so you are currently struggling with math and better at reading and comprehension.
What this means is that 20% of test takers get a higher reading score and 60% of test takers get a higher math score.
Therefore you really want to grind on math concepts this summer and open a Khan Academy account and start online learning math as hard as you can. Next fall when you take your PSAT again, your goal should be to get your math score up to 560. Then I would say 1120 is a pretty good base score in the 83-84th percentile overall.
It's good that you know what you need to improve and work on. Many students wait until it's too late. Good luck.
It depends on what school you want to go to. If you want to go to the Ivy League or other very top competitive schools, you should work to improve your score. However, if you're asking about getting into a college in general, I can assure you that you'll get in many places with that score and GPA. I will say that it's good that your lower score is in math since that's an easier thing to improve upon. Reading and writing are more difficult to improve upon because you can't really change how well you read besides reading often. However, math is easy to improve upon because there's an exact way to learn how to do problems.
I will say that you shouldn't read too much into this score. Taking the SAT/PSAT is a lot about knowing the test. As this is your first/close to first experience with it, you're just getting used to it. I suggest using Khan Academy's SAT Prep. Just know that it is designed for the SAT so you might not understand some of those questions until you've taken more questions. However, Khan does have many walkthroughs, guides, and practice questions to help you understand.
Your GPA looks very good. Additionally, many schools are moving away from SAT scores and more towards essays, extracurriculars, and coursework, so you might not have to put so much pressure on yourself over it. You also have a lot of time until junior year when you take the SAT, so don't let it occupy your thoughts every second. I wish you luck!
Hey there @jakeh1325!
I'm also a freshman who took the PSAT this year and got an 1150. Similar to you, I didn't do as well on the math portion as I did on the English portion, which was kind of discouraging. However, a 100 isn't a bad score, and you have a while to improve before you take another PSAT or SAT. If you want specific SAT practice, you can find free practice tests on their website. Khan Academy also has SAT math prep, which is also helpful. Good luck!
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