Maryland is the only state where the effect of AE could not be hidden, and you clearly explained those reasons.
While the impact was not as significant in other states, I assure you that AE abuse prevented otherwise deserving students from being selected as NMSFs. One factor that may have helped the NMSC obscure some of what happened with AE is the fact that several students, even in open states, were operating in a hybrid environment. The quality of instruction in many areas across the country was not up to the typical standards, and that probably resulted in lower SI indices. Also the first October test administration had a generous curve. Overall, the SI were on par with previous years, and that is a good thing.
For reference, I do not have a problem with AE. I do have a huge problem with people who abused the system. And now that the cat is out of the bag, NMSC needs to figure out how to address the situation. Two easy changes would be to rescale the SI for the SAT and to make students declare which SAT sitting they will be using for NMSF consideration prior to the SAT testing date.
ETA - I would love to know the percentage of NMSFs who qualified using the PSAT vs. those that used AE, especially in Maryland.
Once the media release comes out, Iâll be able to get a really good idea of this number for MD. Though purely speculative, my guess would be that at least 75% but it could definitely be more than that - I wouldnât be surprised if it was even 90%!
Thatâs 2 points higher for Americans abroad! D22âs school administered the PSAT in Oct. so, unless someone was sick that day, AE isnât an option.
Per NMSC, 1.13% of students used AE. My D (Americans Abroad) w/222 didnât make the semifinalist. We should have moved to Maryland, be unethical, and used her SAT score, 1560.
We live in Maryland. I donât know of one school district that held the PSAT in October or January. My daughter registered for both PSAT exams, but they canceled them both for the entire district because of Covid. Maryland has school districts by county, so our school district includes 12 high schools. Our school district was also not very forthcoming with alternate entry. There were a few e-mails, but you really needed to search the information yourself to find out what alternate entry was about. My daughter took the SAT in August of last year and got a 1560. She applied for alternate entry, but we have not heard anything from her high school about semifinalist. (also almost every SAT exam was cancelled in Maryland. I think in spring of 2021 they started holding them. My daughter drove 8 hours to Ohio to take the exam. )
We are in the same boat in NC. No PSAT, applied for AE, daughter also got a 1560. Havenât heard from high school, and Iâm nervous that somehow the AE form didnât go through. I never got a confirmation or anything.
Supposedly, they are not supposed to release until the 15th of September. My daughter had a few friends that all scored in the high 1500s and no one has received any information.
The vast majority of students who take the PSAT probably donât care about national merit. The segment of students who do care are high achieving students, so that probably limits the pool already.
Now keep in mind that of that pool of high achieving students, they had to have either not been able to take the PSAT or skipped the PSAT. While there were cancellations in many parts of the country, in other parts of the country PSAT administrations went on as scheduled. So weâre talking about a really small number of students in the grand scheme of things.
There are only 16,000 national merit semfinalists per year. If anything, 15,000 students taking alternate entry seems like a LOT as youâd think the students who would be to motivated to submit SAT scores for national merit would have a pretty good idea of whether they had a chance or not. (I donât think someone with a 1300 SAT Is bothering to send their test scores to NMSC.)
The more interesting question to ask is what percentage of alternate entry students got semifinalist standing.
Wohoo! School finally handled letters to our NMSFs!
They made it quite special , In the office, with all school APS and GCs applauding:)
Kids still were asked to keep this top secret⊠(FL, SI220, and we did not receive OU flyer:)
That is my thought exactly - everyone knows the ballpark for their state. Itâs the kids with a chance to qualify who bothered. If the motivation was to keep the 16,000 number somewhat intact, it seems like the vast majority of PSAT takers were pushed out.
That is exactly why I want to know what percentage of this yearâs NMSFs qualified via the PSAT and what percentage qualified via AE. I would suspect that most of the AE submissions thought they had a chance of NMSF. I would not be surprised if a large percentage of AE submissions qualified for NMSF. And if that is the case (and in some states that would probably be the expectation), that would be very telling.
Do we know if the number of test takers was less than normal, and if so, how much less? Itâs very possible that 1.1% isnât out of 1.5 million but a considerably smaller number.
I think there is also the question how many NMSF there are at this point? Is it still around 16,000? We will be a bit wiser next week once the lists get published.
One thing that the NMSC could do going forward is not advancing students from Semifinalist status to Finalist status if AE abuse is suspected. For example, if they confirm with a particular school that both dates of the PSAT were offered, but the student opted to send an SAT score instead, that would be a red flag. Another one, if a particular school has a history of only getting a handful of NMSF in years past and this year they get 2 digit numbers or so.
Number of AE i think will strongly depend on particular state situation of course, for example in our state (FL) PSAT was broadly available in both Oct and Jan. My daughter took PSAT (scored 1480) though by this time she already had her August SAT result of 1550. Her letter says - around 16,000 NMSF. I hope those who took actual PSAT and understandably scored lower than AE wonât be in disadvantage in NMF decision.
Iâve seen this point made elsewhere, and I think itâs true: there were no great options for the NMSC.
If you created huge burdens on alternate entry, youâd have large numbers of students adversely impacted. Many PSAT administrations were legitimately canceled and COVID was rampant during the fall and winter. For many students, taking the PSAT wasnât an option. And even in places that did administer it - if you didnât let students opt out of taking the PSAT during the height of the pandemic due to COVID fears, the backlash for the NMSC wouldâve been significant.
With regards to alternate entry itself:
Iâve heard the idea of allowing a student who took the PSAT to also submit an SAT score instead, but then you would hear howls from students who didnât have the opportunity to take a test multiple times. (in many places, it was difficult to even find a single SAT administration)
Could the NMSC have said that only your first SAT administration counts towards AE? Perhaps, but I donât even know if that would work logistically. (when someone gets your test scores, does it say how many times youâd taken the SAT previously and when?)
I can probably keep going, but the broader point is that the NMSC was in a really tough spot. I feel bad for kids who just missed the cutoff, especially in states where alternate entry may have been the difference. But no system the NMSC implemented this year wouldâve been ideal.
That doesnât mean that things canât be fixed going forward, but I can certainly understand why some of these decisions were made.
They could have required students to submit all their SAT scores, just like some (very few) schools do. And then use the test closest SAT test to one of the PSAT dates.
