Is a 229 on the PSAT good enough?

Question

we just got our scores back, and i got:

critical reading - 74
math - 80
writing - 75

is this good enough to be a national merit finalist or scholar? how good/bad is this in comparison to you or any of your friends?

if any of you have been through the whole national merit thing - what are my chances of making it all the way through?

any input is greatly appreciated :)

and by the way - i asked this question earlier and everyone answered as if the scores i gave above were percentiles. they are not. these are just the numeric scores i received.

my score report said i was in the 99th percentile for all 3 subjects?

Answer 1

Ok Dude, lets just say that you did freaking awesome! And that saying you have a 229 sounds like you just bombed the test, and thats why ppl said that you have a really low score. you have a 2290...

In math, 80 = 800. you have a perfect score.

in Reading 74 = 740. which is really really good.

the writing score is a very great score as well - 750.

You add a 0 to every score you get (except for the essay score that you will do on the SAT I) and add the Verbal and Math score together to recieve your sat score. Now, from my understanding, the new PSAT should be formatted like the new SAT (so there should not have been any analogies on this psat) then the highest possible score is a 2400. you have a 2290. Basically 110 points from a perfect score.

To answer your question - You definitely have a very high chance of becoming a National Merit Scholar, but you won't find out now. My friend found out in her senior year, after taking the PSAT in 10th grade. So it may take a long time .Congrats again. THe PSAT is considered to be harder than the SAT, but if you get scores like this on the real deal, and if you are in general a great and active student, I guarantee you my friend, you will have a wide selection of colleges to choose from. I say shoot high and apply to the IVY leagues, but if you want a great IVY league Public school, please check out the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Yes I go there, and yes my opinion may be biased, but it is a great lively academic community that has a wonderful balance between education, recreation, and service opportunity that no one should pass up if they are accepted to the university. Check us out at Collegeboard.com.

Answer 2

99th percentile means that you scored better than 99% of the people who took the test. That's VERY good, you should have a good chance for the national merit.

Answer 3

yes that's definitely good enough. i don't know what state you're from, but i doubt any state will need more than a 225 to get to be a semifinalist. for ca, it's prolly around a 217.

to be a finalist, you'll hafta fill out an app w/ an essay and stuff. you'll get this stuff after you're recognized as a semifinalist.

yeah um ok. so i got a 238, the next two closest at my school were 232 and 230. but you only need like a 217 to get to be semif. after you're recog-ed as semif, you'll get the app (next year) and fill it out, and then after that they'll tell you whether you'll be a finalist or not. i'm pretty sure you will be, b/c they only cut 1000 out of 16000 semifinalists.

yup so i think you have great chances. the process takes forever, tho, so you have lots of waiting to do lol.

Answer 4

the surely scholarship standards variety from 3 hundred and sixty 5 days to 3 hundred and sixty 5 days, so there is on no account a guarentee no rely how stable your rankings are. in spite of the undeniable fact that, it is an extremely stable score; you're able to be happy with your self. it is totally possibly you will a minimum of be cautioned.

Answer 5

yes, anything above a 215 is very considerable. good luck!

Answer 6

depends what you want to go into really..

Answer 7

it's kinda low.

Answer 8

em......
pretty low!!!
u can do better!!!