PSAT/NMSQT Scores

PSAT/NMSQT stands for Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. It’s a standardized test that provides firsthand practice for the SAT Reasoning Test™. It also gives you a chance to enter National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) scholarship programs.

Students in the eleventh grade of high school enter NMSC competitions by taking the PSAT/NMSQT, which serves as an initial screen of approximately 1.5 million entrants each year, and by meeting published program entry and/or participation requirements. NMSC uses the Selection Index score (CR + M + W) on the PSAT/NMSQT as an initial screen of program entrants and to designate groups of students to be honored in the competitions it conducts.

The following table gives the score ranges for the National Merit Scholarship: