Your PSAT 8/9 Score Report Explained

Ask your school or counselor for a copy of your PSAT 8/9 score report. As always, students age 13 and older may use a personal College Board student account to view additional insights online.

Score Summary

On your PDF score report, you can view the three scores available from your PSAT 8/9 assessment—total score, Reading and Writing section score, and Math section score.

For each score, the official score report PDF includes:

• All possible scores:
  • 240–1440 for total score
  • 120–720 for section scores
• Your Score Range: This range shows how much your scores would likely vary if you took a different administration of the test under identical conditions. From recent administrations of the PSAT 8/9, these ranges are approximately:
  • Total: ± 40 points
  • Reading and Writing: ± 20 points
  • Math: ± 30 points
• The All Tester Percentile (formally called the "User Percentile") of each score. For example, if a student's score is in the 70th percentile, 70% of a comparison group achieved scores at or below that student's score.
  • All Tester Percentiles are based on the actual scores of the past three cohorts of students in their grade who took the PSAT 8/9. The All Tester Percentiles for the first digital administrations in 2023-24 are reported on tests completed anywhere in the world.

Knowledge and Skills

In the Knowledge and Skills section of the PDF score report, you'll see a graphic that shows your performance on each of the eight content areas measured on the PSAT 8/9. There are four content areas in Reading and Writing, and four in Math.

For each content area, you'll see:

• The approximate number of questions in the content area
• The percentage of the section covered by that area (e.g., 12–14 questions would be about 26% of the Reading and Writing section).
• A visual indication of how you performed in each content area

You can use this section to identify content areas you may want to focus on to practice and improve.

Discover Growing Careers

Your score report may have you thinking about what comes next. If you live in the United States, your score report PDF will include Career Insights Snapshot—a list of growing careers in your state that need skills like yours. Please note that this list is NOT CAREER RECOMMENDATIONS or the only careers you should consider for yourself. The list can show you more about what careers are out there and key aspects of a job, like if it requires a college degree.

You may be curious about a career on the list—or maybe none of the options feel like a great fit. That's okay! The insights can help you start thinking about what you might want to do after high school. If you checked your Career Insights Snapshot on BigFuture School, learn more about any career that sparks your interest. Simply navigate to "Career Explorer" to discover more possibilities. If you saw your Career Insights Snapshot on your PDF score report, take the short career quiz to find careers that reflect your interests.

Each job on your score report:

1. Is growing in your state, meaning there are jobs available.
2. Pays a living wage because we know salary is important.
3. Requires more education after high school, in some cases college but not in all.
4. Spans a variety of interest areas: Doers, Helpers, Creators, Organizers, Persuaders, Thinkers.
5. Connects to the math, reading, and writing skills you demonstrated on the test because every job has a set of measurable skills.

Additional Insights Online

As always, students age 13 and older may use a personal College Board student account to view additional insights online. You can view your section level benchmarks, which provide information about college and career readiness, with links to resources to help you analyze which skills to focus on.