You can use any SAT or ACT score from the fall of your sophomore year to December of your senior year
(For those who always pedantically ask, yes, I believe August (SAT) and early September (ACT) of Sophomore year are included. Not June or July between Fr/Soph.)
Those who qualify via an SAT score through Alternate Entry do not require an additional confirming score.
Fwiw, Art at CP, probably the most knowledgeable on the topics, said
We expect the confirming score requirement to return for the class of 2022 unless significant cancelations occur into the summer.
Thanks for you valuable information @RichInPitt. We were unaware that those who qualify via a SAT score (alternate entry) do not require an additional confirming score. If this is true for 2022, my DD can stop worrying about taking an ACT test now. She has an alternate entry selection index score of 226.
I just called National Merit Corp and asked that question. They said the confirming score must come from a test that is within one year prior to the PSAT or up to December of the senior year. So they must have the score on file by December of the senior year.)
My son got a very good ACT score the summer after his freshman year, but that wonât count as a confirming score since it was before October of his sophomore year. He took the PSAT October of his junior year (last October).
I wonder if you could ask them to consider making an exception during, you know, a pandemic! Seems like a waste to sit for another test just for a confirming score when he was already scoring at that level as a freshman?
They waived the confirming test requirement last year. Itâs in the requirements of the student handbook this year, but it was last year also, so TBD.
I doubt theyâll start doing case-by-case evaluations.
Has anyone heard what the Semifinalist cutoff will be in PA? The range that I have seen is pretty broad, and I was wondering if any data has been released that might help determine where in that range (215-221) the cutoff will ultimately fall.
Compass Prep posted their âofficial cutoffsâ August 23 last year. I suspect it took a day or two to collect/confirm after the letters arrived at schools.
So less than two weeks.
Based on the Commended cutoff, my best estimate would be about 1/3 up from the low end of the CompassPrep range.
So 217-218 in PA, 218 in NY. NY may even slip a bit as Stuyvestant didnât administer the PSAT and they usually account for ~100 of the ~1000 SFs in NY.
It looks like waiving the confirming score for SFs was announced at the same time as the official SF list last year - early Sept.
There are a fixed number of slots for each state, not a percentage. They are filled from high to lower scores for each state. With fewer students able to take the test, it requires going down to a lower score to fill the bucket.
If it hadnât been for the low score outlier of last year, the drop would even be greater. I think the drop in the Commended cutoff confirms this projection (I think his estimate had been something like 206-210, actual is 207).
2 points up in the 6 point range CP lists would result in 2 states going up, 35 unchanged, and 14 going down (mostly high cutoff states) from last year. Iâd say this is a pretty good estimate.
The higher number of alternate Entry students, and the lower cutoff for them to qualify (their scores donât factor into the cutoff), means there will likely be a much larger number of Semi-finalists this year. It will be interesting to see if they reduce the number of Finalists, or just award scholarships to a smaller percentage of Finalists (my guess)
Iâm pretty sure scores have leaked in late August for many years. Schools receive advance notice of cutoff and students that qualify, so administrators can confirm the data. These get out and are posted. I would expect official announcement/notification will still be one to two weeks into September, as always.
That makes me feel a little better. We are in Tennessee. S22 scored a SI of 215, which would have been fine for Class of '21. My internal bet was that the cutoff for Tennessee for '22 would be 214-216. Obviously, I donât like one of those numbers very much. But, if I accept your logic, then we are one of the 35 states that stays the same. My son would be very happy with that (assuming there are no drastic changes to university NMF scholarships).
In 2019, schools too received advance notice only in Sept. We homeschool, and I receive all the information ahead of time as a âschool principalâ. Homeschool parents are actually one of the main sources of Artâs unofficial data in early September.
Our school doesnât regularly offer the PSAT to everyone. You have to pay and itâs a Saturday. Last year, Michigan made it the make-up test from the missed spring 2020 tests and so it was a required test day. Every Junior took it in our school. I imagine a lot more kids in Michigan took it last year than in other years. Iâm hoping that this doesnât change predictions too much.
