<p>Hey guys, I was just wondering - so I have a sort of dim understanding of the whole PSAT thing, but I could use some clarification.</p>
<p>Here's how it relates to me: I'm a junior who took the PSAT this year in NC and got a 224. I made some bizarre mistakes in the writing, so I assumed I might get commended but I wasn't going to get semi-finalist. I looked at a very helpful thread on here, however, with the numbers for semi-finalists in each state. Is it true that, on average, anyone with over ~214 in NC gets semi-finalist status? I know they look at other criteria for the finalists, but is semi-finalist based purely on PSAT scores?</p>
<p>Thanks so much for any help!</p>
<p>Semi-finalist is based purely on PSAT score. Congrats, semi-finalist!</p>
<p>Wow, thanks! That's really exciting and honestly pretty unexpected! (When I first saw the thread, I thought 214 was to get COMMENDED in NC).</p>
<p>I'm assuming I won't be a finalist because of low gpa, but it's still satisfying, lol.</p>
<p>Lol, the commended cutoff nationwide is 200, so you're way ahead.</p>
<p>Alas, I raced the kid next to me during the PSAT and came out Commended.</p>
<p>Aww, that sucks lol! But at least you know you can do better on the real thing!</p>
<p>Does anybody know how difficult it is to become a Finalist once you're a Semi-Finalist? What are their main criteria for deciding?</p>
<p>
[quote]
the commended cutoff nationwide is 200, so you're way ahead.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Can anyone corroborate this?</p>
<p>No one can corroborate the 200 (or 214)--those are last year's numbers. But they are good guides/predictors. They will announce the cutoff numbers for October 2008 test takers/Class of 2010 in the spring (at least the nationwide commended number will be known, I can't recall if the state-by-state semi-finalist numbers come out in the spring or in September).</p>
<p>The current year's criteria for transforming semi-finalist status to finalist is here: <a href="http://www.nationalmerit.org/Merit_R&I_Leaflet.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.nationalmerit.org/Merit_R&I_Leaflet.pdf</a></p>
<p>Ahaha...consistently very high academic performance...</p>
<p>Anyway, thank you TXArtemis! That pretty much clears everything up.</p>