This coming fall, over 1, 500, 00 high school juniors who take the PSAT/NMSQT, can compete for recognition in the National Merit Scholarship Program. I find that most high school students in their freshman or sophomore year do not know the significance of this exam nor are well prepared to sit for it.
If you do not believe me, just stand outside your son/daughter’s high school when the bell rings and take a poll. You are lucky if you get a dozen or so students that know the test only counts when taken the junior year, and that you can qualify to be a National Merit Semi-finalist. The most frequent answer you will get is that it is a practice test; the important test is the SAT.
I know for a fact that my son heard from teachers at his high school last year, that the PSAT was just a practice test, no need to worry and he was very surprised, considering how much his Dad and I have been preaching to him about the importance of preparing for the exam. Until we started working with our son, we did not know that the PSAT was more than a practice test for the SAT. We are surprised the test was not emphasized more than it was.
First did you know that each state has a magic number you need to score in order to achieve Semi-finalist status? Finding the cut off scores is not found on the College Board site, but some prep books will list them. My son used Princeton Review: Cracking the PSAT Book and it has a section in the book detailing the significance of the test, and how the previous year’s test takers determine the score needed in each state to achieve semi-finalist status.
A Second less known fact is that a perfect score or index on the PSAT is 240. In some states, a 201 (Wyoming) or higher will give you a crack at a semi-finalist status. You might live in a state where students usually achieve higher scores and you need a 221 (Maryland) or higher. Each year PSAT index scores for individual states change but not by much.
When our son started studying for the PSAT he knew he had to get a 210 or higher, so he had a goal to reach. Now you know what most prep books will tell you, but there’s more to the PSAT. You see when high school juniors take the PSAT it is the first time that nationally all juniors in the country can be ranked, in other words compared against each other in their state and the nation. On any given year in October, the PSAT is given, to roughly 1,500,000 students who sign up for the exam. The following fall, in their senior year, 50,000 students qualify for National Merit Program Recognition and will receive one of two letters. A Letter of Commendation or a letter stating they qualified as semifinalists for the National Merit Award. About 2/3 of the students who made the cut off index will receive a letter of commendation as they are in the 95th-99th percentile. About 16,000 students in the upper 99th percentile in their states will be National Merit Semifinalist.
Usually the majority of semifinalists go on to qualify as finalists if they submit a packet they get in September that has 7 requirements. Now this is where reading the Official Student Guide to the PSAT given to a high school junior when registering for the test comes in handy. Did you know that one of the requirements is that you take the SAT exam and earn scores that reflect your PSAT /NMSQT scores?
I found out that not all students who excel in the PSAT take the SAT. For example, I met a young lady from Texas who was a Semifinalist but never sent in her packet because she did not know about the SAT requirement. She took the ACT and aced it, and saw no reason to take the SAT. When she got the packet in the mail that September, she realized she did not have enough time to prep for the SAT, and decided not to bother with applying for finalist status.
Don’t count on your high school counselor getting all these details to you. Read the Official Student Guide when you son/daughter brings it home. Now if, your son/daughter is not a high achiever and is not dreaming of going to Yale or Harvard or very selective state schools then he/she is ok to take the test and not to worry. However, if you have a student who has the potential to go to a selective or very selective university then you need to know another fact about the PSAT.
The College Board releases the results of the PSAT to colleges and universities usually in the summer to schools that your student has expressed an interest in or schools that match the major your son/daughter identified in the registration form. Some schools such as MIT reach out to students who are in the 99th percentile and get invited to special programs. This happened to our son earlier this month; he received an invitation to attend a fall program at MIT with all expenses paid, so he could find out if MIT is for him. The Dean of Admissions at MIT sent him a letter congratulating him on his score on the PSAT and felt he had what it took to excel at their school. So the PSAT puts high achieving students with high scores on the radar of very selective and selective universities. Our local state university, which has a very selective admission criteria and great Honors College, has our son on their radar. One of the admissions officer has already contacted the high school to get more information on him.
The importance of the PSAT/NMSQT cannot be overly stressed. It is the test to get your student noticed earlier on, and if a student preps well for this test, it is a prediction of how well they will do on the SAT. If you add a zero to 240 you get 2400, and that is a perfect SAT score. So whatever scores your son or daughter received just add a zero and potentially what they will get on the SAT. Of course, there is always the student who gets a 195 or 201 on the PSAT then decides to buckle down and study for the SAT and gets a 2100 or 2200 which is great except that he/she missed the first wave of the radar by the Ivies, and selective schools. The student who got a 2100 on the SAT could have received a 210 on the PSAT and the student who got a 2200 on the SAT could have scored a 220 on the PSAT and probably National Merit Finalist status.
If you have a high school student who will be a junior this fall, then get them to read this blog. They still have 3-4 months to study for the PSAT and aim for the best possible score. This fall juniors only have one crack at this test and they should not let this window of opportunity pass them by. National Merit Finalists tend to get full or partial scholarships so it’s worth the time and energy.
I will share what worked with us; study with your student, make a study schedule, get the whole family involved. Our younger son was so impressed by his brother’s college and special program solicitations, that he joined a local PSAT study group this summer. Although he is an upcoming sophomore student, he will take the PSAT for practice in the fall as his high school makes all 10th graders take the test, he wants to do well. I think he is trying to beat his brother’s score. Hey, whatever works?
So before you go out to buy PSAT study materials, check out the next 5 words a day vocabulary words and have your high schooler write them down:
1. Tenet (noun) position; doctrine
2. Tepid (adj.) lukewarm; not very strong
3. Therapeutic (adj.) curing
4. Tenure (noun) a position or an office; grasp, hold
5. Termagant (noun) cap; an overbearing or nagging woman, shrew
Word Count: 685/3,000
