So are we completely sure these are cutoffs are accurate that Art has posted. I hate to celebrate without seeing a letter. I am sure my daughter’s school isn’t saying a thing until the 12th. Just worried they could be off.
Congrats to all who made it (and even the ones that didn’t- you are all amazing)! And a big thank you to everyone who has been commenting and updating this forum. It is very much appreciated 
@somanyquestions9 - I’m pretty confident the numbers are accurate, but I’m still waiting for my D to get notified by normal channels. I think my D enjoys telling us when she gets good news from school.
Same here. I am not telling her a thing but can’t wait for her to get the news.
@somanyquestions9 - Nothing is “final-final” till the press release date or notification from the school - whichever comes first. Your slight nervousness is totally reasonable and you really can’t really celebrate much anyway (at least publicly) till the press release date.
Art’s not perfect but he has tended to be 100% accurate by the time that the numbers go into the blue graphic. You should continue to follow his blog including comments just to get peace of mind because others might report in either with a success story or a cut-score that’s just one-off (and so verifies the Art-derived scores).
Probably not too early to say congrats to your/your student(?) (!) :D/ (one can still do the little happy dance!)
@mountainmomof3 - thank you for your kind words and congrats to your student as well! :D/
For those who didn’t make it (my son is in this boat only he was comfortably far enough away to keep this a calm household): In another state you would have. There is an element of the whimsical in this process. @3scoutsmom called it something like National Merit’s version of the Electoral College back in Fall of 2016 which is a great analogy. Semi-finalist is a state-specific outcome. Anyway, my son is listing “Commended” on his application and resume, and he listed his SI as well. Why not? He did well! There used to be wording on the CA that guided the applicants on how to list semifinalist and commended but I can’t find it anymore - perhaps they got rid of it. In the absence of definitive guidance, he’s probably just going to list Commended as a National honor designation, given that there is a national as opposed to state-specific cut-off. However, if anyone has anything more specific from CA or equivalent, please post!
Good luck to everyone applying to college this year!
Just for reference the National average works out to be 218.82 for qualifying scores for the 50 states.
This is the one time of year people wish that they lived in WV, WY or and of the other low cutoff states. Still in shock that CA joined the high cutoff states.
@moscott is this giving each state equal weight? I wonder what it would be if it was the top 16000 in the country. My D really wanted a score that that would have made it anywhere So no one would say she just got it because she lives in KS. She missed that by 2 with a 221. But I think if there where a national qualifying score it would probably be 220-221.
@BertieMom - about 1.7 mil.(?) took NMSQT. Top 1% would be over 16,000 testers but they always seem to cut off at over that number anyway (by a few hundred) so top 1% might work. Based on their percentiles that’s around a 1450 - 1480 composite. Hard to translate into an SI but my kid got a 220 with a 1470 total score two years ago. So I can see where a 220-221 seems about right for a top 1% cut off at the present time - at least based on the past 2 years of data! The very first PSAT “understanding scores” report actually included an NMSQT percentile table; however, it was wildly off base. Didn’t show up in the report the following year. They should have enough data by now to generate an appropriate percentile table but I haven’t seen one (haven’t looked either).
If your S or D is a NMSF, is there any reason to pay to send your SAT score? I’m thinking we’ll just send the ACT and the SAT Subject Test scores if required. I guess in the Awards Section you could put NMSF with your qualifying SAT scores.
@tpike12, both of my Ds had an ACT score that was a bit higher than the SAT score, so they did just that: sent ACT score and subject test scores, and then listed NMSF as an honor/award. They didn’t include SAT score but I suppose you could.
Technically, NMSF is awarded before anyone even needs to take an SAT. Sticking to the ACT is fine unless your college of interest requires all scores from both tests. This was basically the path my kid took. If your SAT is just as strong, there is no harm in submitting both scores.
Make sure, however, that you are using the 2018 concordances that ACT and College Board put together to assess that SAT. There are some differences between those and the original Concordance Tables that CB released two years ago. My son’s and my daughter’s SAT scores (from 2016 and 2018, respectively) both shifted up a point in terms of ACT-equivalent. That’s not insignificant, especially given that they are both at the high end of the curve to begin with.
Edit to include: definitely add NMSF to your college apps! Probably best to hold off till the press release date, in order to avoid any violation of the “keep it secret” rule that NMSC seems to hold dear to their hearts.
@JBStillFlying - her SAT is 1570 which translates to a 36 ACT. Her actual ACT is 35. I’d rather not give more money to the College Board after learning more about their continued processes that have allowed substantial cheating.
The SAT is a little better than then ACT, but I’d prefer submitting the 35 ACT and in the awards having her do something like:
National Merit Semi-Finalist (PSAT = 1480, Confirming SAT = 1570)
“The Book” on NMSF has all of this information anyways, doesn’t it?
@tpike12 To my knowledge, “the book” does not include any student’s confirming SAT score even if the NM Corp already has it on file. I’m assuming it may have your kid’s SI, but I don’t know that for sure.
Unless it has changed, “the book” only includes the names of those students who made NMSF. No confirming scores (some kids may not even have taken the SAT yet to get the confirming score), and no SI. Just names and the school the student attends.
^^ No individual si listed, just a code for career/major choice. Last year it did list the cut off by state but it didn’t for tho class of 2016.
Thanks for the info on The Book. I guess they wouldn’t want to publish that information and give away potential revenue.
“I’d rather not give more money to the College Board after learning more about their continued processes that have allowed substantial cheating.”
My son is finding that most of his colleges allow self-reporting this year. He’d only need to submit an official SAT score if admitted and planning to attend.
The book lists names, schools, and intended major code if the student submitted one. I have the book from 2014 (class of 2015).
ME <= 223