My daughter also only prepped for the ACT and ended up with a 223 PSAT index. From her experience I think the ACT prep can be very helpful.
@luckymama64 , sounds like your son will be well-prepared and that delayed PSAT date gives him the ACT for good practice a few days before. Hopefully it works out for him like it did with your daughter. Good luck!
@janiemiranda , excellent job to your daughter on the 223. Clearly she is a good test taker so hopefully she hit her goal for the ACT as well.
Question for U Alabama peeps: once your kid is admitted to the Honors program, is it necessary to put down an enrollment deposit and a housing deposit before NMF status comes through to secure Honors housing? Or is the Honors housing pretty much guaranteed for NMF honors? I ask only because we just got an email urging us to put down the deposit…
from what i understand the confirming score is a score equal to or higher than the commended cutoff which for 2020 is 212. so 217 is plenty high.
Since we are traveling from out of state, UCF offered a hotel room. That’s it.
Is there a place on the NM portal where you can see if the confirming score report has been received? We sent scores a month ago (and can see on application portals that colleges who were sent to in the same batch have received), but are wondering how to confirm the National Merit folks have what they need. My DD sees only that her portion and her guidance counselor’s portion were submitted on the portal - nothing about scores at all - received, missing or otherwise. Safe to assume if she sent them with the right code then all is well? Or should she actually be able to see confirmation (in which case she will follow up with them)?
We checked on the CollegeBoard site to see the date each report was sent. Click on the particular SAT test & under Student Score Reports, check the drop downs for the list sent to colleges and National Merit. It’s very reassuring, believe me.
We did both - we checked the College Board site to make sure they were sent and then contacted NMSC later to make sure they were received. They were very nice at NMSC.
Agreed – we did both as well. It was very reassuring for dd to actually hear from a live person that her score was received and application materials all complete.
I sent the confirmation SAT from Aug SAT of this year and D just took the PSAT two weeks ago for NMF. Positive thinking and all.
Does anyone have the full 2020 NMSF list for Ohio? I have tried several media outlets without success. 
For those who haven’t applied, Alabama is offering a free application this week. You still need to send your test scores and transcript but the application (no essays required) is free. https://www.ua.edu/
I don’t have a NM kid; but I do have a question for all of you!
Did anyone’s NM student take the alternative test date Oct. 24, 2018? I’m curious because the curve was really really tough.
I’m just wondering about that all; how many made it from that date. And reading through this is all interesting - will be prepping my D23 for sure. 
good luck to all with decisions!
@bgbg4us My son made it from that date.
@bgbg4us by DD also had the 10/24 test date.
I don’t have a horse in this race, but wondering what the experts (that’s you folks) think the Commended Cutoff will be for next year. Anyone care to take a stab at it? Thanks in advance.
https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/pdf/psat-nmsqt-understanding-scores.pdf
Not an expert, but have kids in both this year’s and next year’s classes. The curves for this year’s tests appear slightly tougher than last year’s main test. My personal thought was that the commended would remain the same or maybe drop a point. I was under the impression the “curve” was set prior to the test being given based on question difficulty. However, I’ve also read that may not be exactly how CB curves it, ie, they also adjust after the test results are in. This might lead to the commended score going up.
Thanks for the new thread! Via A VPN found out our Texas score. 217 - so disappointing - her score last year was 222. Heard it was a hard test this year - hoping that’s the case. Older daughter is NMF so we’ve enjoyed the free tuition!! Praying
I chuckled this morning to receive a text from DS23 to announce that he just received his first PSAT score. (Our school (which serves a very diverse student body and large number of first-gen students) has all students take the PSATs in 9th/10th AND 11th grade). Now that his big sister was named NMSF he’s ready to compete!