PSAT Scores - How do you calculate it?

I'm needing help understanding how to calculate my PSAT score. I remember something about it not being the simple total of correct answers. Can anyone give me an easy-to-understand explanation? Appreciate any support!

Sure, happy to help! PSAT scores are indeed calculated using a more complex method than simply tallying correct answers, but it's fairly straightforward once you break it down.

Firstly, the PSAT is made up of three sections: Reading, Writing and Language, and Math. The score for each of these sections is derived from your raw score, which is simply the number of questions you answered correctly. There are no penalties for wrong answers, so feel encouraged to give every question your best shot!

These raw scores are then converted into scaled scores using a process called equating. Equating takes into account the slight variations in difficulty between different test forms, thus enabling a fair comparison of scores. It is this equating process that makes the conversion from raw scores to scaled scores not a simple 1:1 conversion.

After equating, each of the three sections (Reading, Writing and Language, and Math) has a scaled score ranging from 8 to 38.

Here's where it can get a bit tricky: the Reading and Writing and Language scores are then combined to create an Evidence-Based Reading and Writing (EBRW) score, which also ranges from 160 to 760.

The Math section score is also multiplied by 20 to get a scaled score ranging from 160 to 760.

Lastly, these two scaled scores (EBRW and Math) are added together to give you a final PSAT score on the scale of 320 to 1520.

So, a high-level summary would be:

1. Count correct answers to get the raw score

2. Convert the raw scores to scaled scores

3. Multiply to get the EBRW and Math scores

4. Add the EBRW and Math scores

Please note that these conversions change slightly from test to test, so you can't predict the exact PSAT score based on correct answers alone. But generally, the better you do, the higher your score will be. Hope this makes sense!