For kids at the upper extremes, the ceiling on the PSAT is too low. DS' score unavoidably dropped almost 100 points compared to his SAT score from 7th grade because the maximum is only 1440 compared to 1600 on the SAT.
Beyond this obvious hard ceiling issue, there is also a soft ceiling issue. You needed a perfect raw score (0 incorrect) to score 1440 on the October version my kids took and missing 1 math question dropped your score 20 points while 1 reading or 1 writing question dropped your score 10 points each. While DD's score did rise compared to her 7th grade SAT score, I am fairly confident that her PSAT score is an underestimation of what she would have scored on the SAT at this point in time. There is more room for imperfection on the SAT and a score as "low" as 1440 (PSAT max) on the SAT would correspond to many missed questions. In other words, at the upper range (say above 1350) of the PSAT, I wouldn't assume that is a correct estimate of your child's SAT score.
Another issue is that the national percentiles are meaningless and overinflated. The "user percentiles" are closer to reality and the one you should reference.
Last edited by Quantum2003; 12/22/17 06:50 PM.
