PSAT Scoring: How to Calculate Your Score and More

Each year, millions of high school students across the U.S. sit for the PSAT. This exam not only offers practice for the SAT but also determines National Merit Scholarship eligibility. Getting a high PSAT score means you’ll likely perform similarly on the SAT.

But how is the PSAT scored? We created this guide to help you understand everything there is to know about PSAT scoring, from how raw scores translate into scaled scores to how many questions you can afford to miss on test day.

The total PSAT score range is 320-1520. This means the highest PSAT score you can get is a 1520. But how are these scores determined?

First, the College Board calculates your raw score for each section: Math, Reading, and Writing and Language. Your raw score equals the number of questions you answered correctly. There is no penalty for wrong or blank answers.

Next, the College Board uses a special equating process, which accounts for slight variations in difficulty among tests, to convert your raw scores into scaled test scores. These test scores have a range of 8-38.

Finally, the College Board converts your test scores into section scores on a scale of 160-760. You’ll get a Math score and a combined Reading and Writing score called Evidence-Based Reading and Writing (EBRW).

Add together your Math and EBRW section scores to get your total PSAT score out of 1520.

Besides the scores above, your PSAT score report will include subscores and cross-test scores, which offer further insight into your strengths and weaknesses.

Subscores use a scale of 1-15. They reflect your performance on certain question types found on different sections of the exam. Here are the seven subscores and what sections they appear on:

You’ll also get two cross-test scores, scored on a scale of 8-38. Questions that contribute to your cross-test scores may appear on any PSAT section.

The two cross-test scores are:

Unlike the SAT, the PSAT includes a score called the Selection Index. The National Merit Scholarship Corporation uses this score to determine which test-takers (11th graders only) may qualify for a National Merit Scholarship.

The Selection Index uses a range of 48-228. To calculate your Selection Index, add together your test scores for Math, Reading, and Writing, and then double the sum.

The Selection Index score you need to progress in the National Merit Scholarship Program will vary depending on the testing year and your state of residence. For example, in 2020, test-takers in West Virginia needed a Selection Index of 207 to qualify, whereas test-takers in Maryland needed a score of 224.

Below are five easy steps you can take to calculate your PSAT score. Make sure you use the PSAT scoring chart that comes with your practice test to find your score.

If your practice test doesn’t come with a score chart, you can estimate your scaled scores using the sample PSAT score chart in the following section.

First, you’ll need to find your raw score. To do this, simply add up the number of questions you answered correctly on the Reading, Writing, and Math sections.

Give yourself 1 point for every question you got right. Remember there is no score penalty for incorrect answers, so you should always put down an answer, even if you have to guess.

The next step is to find your Math section score. To do this, take your raw score for Math and consult your practice test’s PSAT scoring chart. This table will show you what section score out of 760 your raw Math score translates to.

You’ll now want to calculate your Evidence-Based Reading and Writing score. Start by taking your raw scores for Reading and Writing and converting them into test scores (out of 38) using your practice test’s PSAT scoring chart.

Next, add together these two test scores — you should get a number out of 76. Finally, multiply this sum by 10 to get your EBRW section score out of 760.

To find your total PSAT score, simply add your Math and EBRW section scores together. This number should fall somewhere in the range of 320-1520.

Juniors and students planning to take the PSAT their junior year may want to see whether their PSAT scores could qualify them for a National Merit Scholarship.

To calculate your Selection Index score, add together your Math, Reading, and Writing test scores. Then, multiply the sum by 2.

To calculate PSAT scores, the College Board uses a special equating process, which takes into account differences in difficulty among exams. In other words, how raw scores translate into scaled scores varies slightly with each test.

As a result, test-takers on one test date won’t get an advantage over those taking the PSAT on a different test date.

This is why you must use the PSAT score chart for your specific practice test when converting raw scores into test and section scores.

If your test doesn’t have a scoring guide, you can use the following PSAT scoring chart to estimate how your raw scores may translate into scaled scores. We created this PSAT scoring chart by combining the scoring tables from the College Board’s two PSAT practice tests.

Based on the chart above, you can generally miss one question on each section and still get the max PSAT score of 1520.

However, this can vary depending on the difficulty of the exam. If your PSAT contains harder questions, you may be able to miss 2-3 questions and still get a perfect score.

You can use this PSAT scoring chart to estimate how many questions you can afford to miss on test day. For example, if your target score is 1400, you might aim for the following test/section scores: