Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Ceiling Effects of new PSAT/NMSQT

Has anyone else notice any additional ceilings effects of the new PSAT/NMSQT?

I am not sure whether that was even a cause but the number of National Semi-Finalists for our district and particularly for our school dropped significantly for the class of 2017 (first year) and while it has risen for the class of 2018, those numbers are still lower compared to the numbers under the old PSAT/NMSQT.

After researching a bit, I realized how easy it is to miss the cut if you are in a state with one of the highest cut-offs. Keeping in mind that the maximum score is 760 instead of 800, this means that the maximum index is 228 (76 + 2(38+ 38)). On an easy/moderate difficulty test, you need a perfect raw score to get 228 and perhaps minus one in each section to get 222-225. If you live in a state with a cut higher than 222, missing even one in each section may knock you out of the running on an easier test.

I seem to recall that the old SAT/PSAT had a slightly higher ceiling so that there was a bit more room for a few careless mistakes. It would be interesting to see if the new PSAT/NMSQT is capturing the same category of students as far as ability or achievement, particularly in the states with the highest indices.

I had previously assumed that National Merit Semi-Finalist shouldn't be difficult for DS/DD but I now realize that it is much easier to get a 1520 (i.e.,760+760) on the SAT than a 228 index (1520 equivalent) on the PSAT/NMSQT since you could miss quite a few questions on the SAT even on an easy version versus a perfect raw score on the PSAT/NMSQT for an easy version.