PSAT Score Calculator

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Enter how many questions you got right in each module and this calculator converts your raw score into a PSAT/NMSQT score range out of 1520, plus the NMSC Selection Index that National Merit actually screens on. Each section is scored 160–760, and there is no penalty for a wrong answer. The conversion below is College Board’s own published table, not our estimate.

Work out your PSAT/NMSQT score

Enter how many questions you answered correctly in each module. Your score comes back as a range, because that is how College Board’s own conversion table reports it.

Reading & Writing
Math

Fill in your correct answers above and your estimated score range appears here.

See which skills are costing you the most points →

Your total score is not the number National Merit looks at

This is the part most PSAT calculators leave out. National Merit does not screen on your 320–1520 total. It screens on the Selection Index: your Reading and Writing section score doubled, plus your Math section score, divided by ten.

Because Reading and Writing is counted twice, two students with an identical total can have meaningfully different Selection Indexes. A 1400 built on a strong Math score is worth less to National Merit than a 1400 built on a strong Reading and Writing score. If National Merit is your goal, that changes which section is worth your next hour of practice.

Qualifying cutoffs are set per state and move every year, so we deliberately do not print one here. Check the current cutoff for your own state.

Where these numbers come from

Source.
College Board, Scoring Your Paper PSAT/NMSQT Practice Test #1 (2324-PN-772), Raw Score Conversion Table, page 6. We transcribed it; we did not derive it.
Ranges, not points.
College Board publishes a lower and an upper value per raw score and calls that the range you might expect. We report it unchanged rather than collapsing it to a midpoint.
Known limit.
This table accompanies the paper version of a digital practice test, which College Board describes as “a simplified (and therefore slightly less precise) version” of the adaptive scoring used on test day. Treat the result as a close range.
Raw score maxima.
Reading and Writing runs 0–66 across two modules of 33; Math runs 0–54 across two of 27.

Common questions

What is a good PSAT score?
The PSAT/NMSQT is scored from 320 to 1520, with each of the two sections on a 160–760 scale. What counts as good depends entirely on what you want from it: for most students the PSAT is practice, and the score matters mainly as a baseline to improve from. If you are aiming at National Merit, the number that matters is not your total score but your Selection Index.
What is the NMSC Selection Index?
It is the score National Merit Scholarship Corporation uses to screen entrants, calculated as (2 × your Reading and Writing section score + your Math section score) ÷ 10, on a scale of 48 to 228. Because Reading and Writing is doubled, it carries twice the weight of Math — which is why two students with the same total score can have very different Selection Indexes.
What Selection Index do I need for National Merit?
Cutoffs are set separately for each state and change every year, so there is no single number. Check the current cutoff for your own state rather than relying on a figure quoted on a prep site, including this one.
Why does this calculator give a range instead of one score?
Because College Board’s published conversion table gives a range. For each raw score it lists a lower and an upper value, and states that those establish the range of scores you might expect had this been an actual test. A calculator that reports a single number is adding precision the source does not contain.
Is the PSAT scored the same way as the SAT?
The structure is the same — two sections, each split into two modules, with the second module adapting to how you did on the first. The scales differ: the PSAT/NMSQT runs 320–1520 while the SAT runs 400–1600. There is no penalty for a wrong answer on either.

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