An official PSAT/NMSQT score report contains four scores.

• Total Score (on a scale of 320-1520)
• Reading and Writing Score (on a scale of 160-760)
• Math Score (on a scale of 160-760)
• National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) Selection Score Index

The section score reflects students’ overall performance in the section. The total score combines the section scores of Reading and Writing (160-760) with the Math section score (160-760).

---

NMSC Selection Score Index

For National Merit qualification (and many college scholarships), students are evaluated using a score called the NMSC Selection Index. This index isn’t just an average of the sections—it gives twice as much weight to Reading and Writing as it does to Math.

Here's how it works:

The Selection Index is calculated by adding the Math score to twice the Reading and Writing score, then dividing the total by 10.

In other words, Reading and Writing makes up two-thirds of the Selection Index, while Math accounts for only one-third. So strong performance on the Reading and Writing section is especially important for National Merit consideration.

About 50,000 high scorers, measured by Selection Index, are notified each September of their qualification for National Merit Scholarship Program recognition. And about 16,000 will be notified that they have qualified as semifinalists.

---

Total Score

Like the SAT, the PSAT measures a raw score which is calculated by the number of questions answered correctly. There is no penalty for guessing. That raw score is then converted to a scaled score (160-760) using a process called equating, which takes into account slight variations in difficulty between different test administrations and dates. The two scaled section scores are combined to create a student’s total score and to measure a student’s percentile ranking. The percentile ranking shows how a test-taker compares to the scores of test-takers nationwide. It represents the percentage of test-takers whose scores fell at or below the student’s score. The chart below shows percentile rankings for total scores among 10th and 11th graders.