PSAT/NMSQT Practice as an 8th Grader.
I am a rising 8th grader looking to get into a top tier university, preferably somewhere in or close to California, like a UC or Stanford (possibly a stretch). I took the PSAT/NMSQT and PSAT 10 practice test on Bluebook and got a score of 1280, with a score of 690 in reading and writing and a score of 590 in math. How would this score translate to the score I receive taking the actual PSAT/NMSQT as an 11th grader? Would I qualify for a Merit-Based Scholarship? How do I compare to actual 11th graders taking the test
Yeah, I'm trying to see if I would be able to qualify for the scholarship when I take the test as an 11th grader, having learned more and gained more experience. Thanks for your help!
Oh I see, if you already took a practice test and got a 1280 on it, you should, through practice, easily be able to qualify as you need around a 1350+ to qualify I believe (Thats the average for qualification). Good luck!
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I'm a rising 10th grader, and I took the PSAT in 8th and 9th. I found that without practice the score I got was essentially the same, I actually went down slightly. I did not study at all and went from a 1330 to a 1310.
For your questions about comparing to actual 11th graders, the test is divided up into 3 different tests with different difficulty: 8th and 9th graders, 10th, and 11th (the one that matters for scholarships), so it's not really directly comparable except between 8th and 9th grade which is what I took.
For your question about if you could get a scholarship: Actually, although you got a 1280 which without studying too much probably translates to a similar score in 11th grade, maybe like 1300-1350 (hard to judge with the different difficulties as I said), which would not generally qualify, but the scholarship is not so simple. Of course there is stuff like essays and recommendations, but for the actual PSAT score they don't look at your 1280, they would see a scholarship index score. You are in a pretty good position actually because the index is calculated with this formula: (2[READING SCORE] + [MATH SCORE]) / 10.
Essentially, your reading score counts double compared to your math. This formula is beneficial for you with your strength in reading. This would mean you would have an index of 197. (Actually the same as me lol). This still does not qualify as generally you have to be above 215 minimum. It is not hard set because you are compared to the other scores in your state, and some are more competitive, but having an index of 219-221 is pretty safe.
With a little bit of studying I'm sure you could qualify! Good luck!
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To get the National Merit Scholarship, you need to have a good PSAT score. The PSAT is scored out of 1520, 800 in math and 800 in ELA. Your PSAT score is 1280. Though its above average, it might not qualify for the National Merit Scholarship. To add to this, the scholarship is mostly meant for high schoolers, but then again, you can take the PSAT multiple times so I don't see how you cant get it. I mean as a 9th grader, you got the general context of the PSAT and would get a better score!