An analysis of problems with PSAT scores, courtesy of Compass Education

Apparently Im not the only one who has noticed something very  odd  about PSAT score reports. California-based Compass Education has produced a report  analyzing some of the inconsistencies in this years scores. The  report raises more questions than it  answers, but the  findings themselves are very interesting.  For anyone who has the time and the inclination, its well worth reading. Some  of the highlights include: Test-takers are compared to students who didn’t even take the test and may never take the test. In calculating percentiles, the  College Board relied on an undisclosed sample method  when it could have relied on scores from students who actually took the exam. 3% of students scored in the 99th percentile. In some parts of the scale, scores were raised  as much as 10 percentage points  between 2014 and 2015. More sophomores than juniors obtained top scores. Reading/writing benchmarks for both sophomores and juniors have been lowered  by over 100 points; at the same time, the elimination of the wrong-answer penalty would permit  a student to approach the benchmark while guessing randomly on every single question.