No. None at all, in fact. These schools do not require you to report PSAT scores and care little about them if they are reported. And no law schools will care in the slightest. </p>
<p>Morevover, although the NMF standing that can be attained from high scores can have a positive impact at many schools, it has almost none at the the highly competitive ones (because so many of their applicants share very high test scores). Your near-maximum SAT score will trump any advantage an NMF might have at HYPS, etc., but, of course, it is still a far-from-certain quality of eventual admission.</p>
<p>NO the cutoffs are not released until September of senior year So lots of time to be in suspense if your score is near the cutoff. The state data helps us try to guess what the cutoff will be, but nothing is guaranteed until people start getting notified senior year. (Even then, they don’t actually publish the cutoffs, but folks here will assemble a list based on data points of people saying their score and whether they are finalists or not.)</p>
<p>I’ve done a little digging at PSAT reports for the past three years at the national level (that’s all that’s available now; as mentioned up thread, the state level reports won’t be released on the College Board site until end of January/beginning of February.) I am (happily) no longer vested in these results, but I have a lot of junior families in my circle and I’m hoping to be able to read the tea leaves for them a little as they wait for August. </p>
<p>In all cases what you want to look at is Page 3 and the chart that says Juniors at the top with selection index down the left column. </p>
<p>For those of you who are new to this rodeo, 2010 (class that graduated in 2012) was a year that had historically high cutoffs in most states. 2011 (class that will be graduating in 2013) had statistically significant drops, which is what led a few of us to guess last year that NMSF state level cutoffs would drop. That ended up being mostly true, although by how much varied from state to state. </p>
<p>PLEASE don’t take any of this to say that you/your child will or won’t make the cutoff! I’m just a data dork parent who likes to look at numbers
2012 2011 2010
99+ Percentile range 240-222 240-222 240-224
99 percentile range 211-221 211-221 214-223
98 percentile range 205-210 205-210 207-213
97 percentile range 201-204 201-204 203-206</p>
<p>As you can see 2012 national test percentiles are the same the 2011 test percentiles at the top ranges. You can also see how 2011 compared to 2010 and what made us believe that there would be drops between those years. Since the results for PSATs taken in October 2012 seem to be falling in the same top percentile ranges as those in October 2011, I would think that there shouldn’t be huge shifts like there were from 2010 to 2011. BUT that doesn’t mean that on a state by state level there won’t be. You’ll need to look at how many students took the PSAT in your state, what are the mean scores for each section in each state & did they change much from this year to last year. For some states, the # of HS graduates will change from year to year & that affects the distribution of NMSF’s. Even from 2010 to 2011 there was a swing of “no change” in LA to an 8 point drop in Alaska. </p>
<p>I am a junior in Georgia, and received a 219 on the PSAT. The cutoff last year was 214, but the year before that was 218. What do you think are my chances of qualifying?</p>
<p>Justin - in similar situation as you, 220
I’m so mad at myself because I got 3 wrong in writing (1 more right would’ve bumped me up at least 3-4 points) AND I made a silly mistake in math for a 76 (1 wrong). Ugh</p>
<p>kooshbag- if only we had gotten 1 more question right, our lives would be so much easier </p>
<p>Guys in order to get national merit semifinalist, are the conditions that the score you receive must be at or above the cutoff score or is it just above the cutoff score?</p>
<p>Sitting on a 220 in CT. Last year the cutoff was 218, before that it was 220, but usually it’s been 217-219. I think I should be safe, it doesn’t really go up or down too much here. Still nervous, but fingers crossed. Thoughts?</p>
<p>Very good chance you’re safe efeens – I would be surprised if any state sees a cutoff this year that is 6 points higher than last year’s (the 217 required for you to miss out) and 3 points higher than the year before, unless something very unusual has happened to raise the scores of high-achievers in your state this year. </p>
<p>Yayitsme, I think you’re probably safe too, but on slightly shakier ground. </p>
<p>Julia, do you know what the recent cutoffs have been for Maryland? 223 is an excellent score but I don’t know offhand the cutoffs for your state.</p>
<p>Here are last year’s state cutoff scores for the Class of 2013:</p>
<p>AL 209; AK 204; AZ 212; AR 202; CA 220; CO 212; CT 218; DE 215; District of Columbia 221; FL 211; GA 214; HI 211; ID 207; IL 213; IN 211; IA 207; KS 212; KY 208; LA 209; ME 210; MD 219; MA 221; MI 207; MN 213; MS 204; MO 210; MT 203; NE 207; NV 208; NH 211; NJ 221; NM 208; NY 215; NC 213; ND 200; OH 212; OK 206; OR 213; PA 214; RI 211; SC 208; SD 204; TN 210; TX 216; UT 205; VT 214; VA 217; WA 216; WV 200; WI 207; WY 200; Commended 200; International 221; Boarding Schools 214-221; New England Boarding Schools 221; U.S. Territories 200</p>
So lots of time to be in suspense if your score is near the cutoff. The state data helps us try to guess what the cutoff will be, but nothing is guaranteed until people start getting notified senior year. (Even then, they don’t actually publish the cutoffs, but folks here will assemble a list based on data points of people saying their score and whether they are finalists or not.)</p>
</p>