2006 Archived PSAT/NMSQT Data
PSAT/NMSQT 2006 State Summary Reports
In the fall of 2006, students took the PSAT/NMSQT to help determine their level of readiness for college. The PSAT/NMSQT 2006 State Summary Reports summarize the characteristics, scores, and educational plans of the Class of 2008 and Class of 2009. Refer to your School (or System) Summary Reports to compare your local data with the national- and state-level data on these reports:
Download state-level PSAT/NMSQT 2006 Summary Reports for College-Bound Juniors.
Download state-level PSAT/NMSQT 2006 Summary Reports for College-Bound Sophomores.
Highlights of 2006 Junior Data
- 1,553,731 juniors took the PSAT/NMSQT.
- 54.2% of juniors who took the PSAT/NMSQT were female; 45.8% were male.
- Of those noting racial/ethnic background, 37.4% of juniors indicated a category other than "white," an increase from 35.1% in 2005.
- Junior average scores for 2006 (with comparison to 2005 data):
- Critical Reading: 47.7 (0.2 increase)
- Math: 48.5 (0.7 decrease)
- Writing Skills: 45.8 (3.5 decrease)
Note: The decrease in average Writing Skills scores does not imply that the students in 2006 are poorer writers than students in 2005. The mean dropped because this is the first PSAT/NMSQT writing skills section to be created from the new SAT writing section. Thanks to this change, PSAT/NMSQT writing scores will now be an even stronger predictor of SAT writing performance.
- College majors of interest to the Class of 2008 include: health professions and sciences, 18.9%; business management, 10.3%; visual and performing arts, 9.5%; engineering, 7.7%; education, 4.9%; biological sciences, 4.0%; and psychology, 4.0%. The strongest interest among males was engineering (14.7%); females' most frequently indicated interest was health professions and sciences (25.5%). About 11% were undecided about a college major.
Highlights of 2006 Sophomore Data
- 1,393,801 sophomores took the PSAT/NMSQT.
- 52.5% of sophomores who took the PSAT/NMSQT were female; 47.5% were male.
- Of those noting racial/ethnic background, 47.8% of sophomores indicated a category other than "white," an increase from 45.0% in 2005.
- Sophomore average scores for 2006 (with comparison to 2005 data):
- Critical Reading: 42.6 (0.1 increase)
- Math: 43.5 (0.5 decrease)
- Writing Skills: 40.8 (4.1 decrease)
Note: The decrease in average Writing Skills scores does not imply that the students in 2006 are poorer writers than students in 2005. The mean dropped because this is the first PSAT/NMSQT writing skills section to be created from the new SAT writing section. Thanks to this change, PSAT/NMSQT writing scores will now be an even stronger predictor of SAT writing performance.
- College majors of interest to the Class of 2009 include: health professions and sciences, 17.4%; visual and performing arts, 10.9%; business management, 7.9%; engineering, 7.7%; biological professions and sciences, 4.0%; and education, 3.9%. The strongest interest among males was engineering (14.7%); females' most frequently indicated interest was health professions and sciences (24.4%). About 14% were undecided about a college major.