<p>In response to the many different threads where related questions are asked, I'm offering this summary. </p>
<p>There are no established National Merit score cutoffs yet for current juniors. (Younger students taking the test are not eligible for National Merit standing based on the test taken this year.) Juniors will find out the commended level sometime in the spring, and semi-finalist levels in August/September. To predict what your score might yield, you can look to past results and expect the new levels to be within a few points +/-. </p>
<p>For current seniors, the national cutoff for Commended Students (an honor that doesn't present a chance for scholarships) was 200. For National Merit Semi-Finalist status, each state has its own minimum score requirement, and those can change from year to year. The score depends on the scores achieved and the number of test-takers within that state. Here's the unofficial list compiled on a different thread; I'll paste it in because there are over 500 posts on that thread! The small number folowing the score reflects the change from the previous year's cutoff for states where that information was available. National Merit and College Board do not publish a comparable list, so this is all based on individual CC members reporting in. </p>
<p>AL = 209 -3
AK = 213
AZ = 211 -3
AR = 201 -5
CA = 217 -2
CO = 213 -4??
CT = 217 -4
DC = 223 -? (last year not known)
DE = 219 -0
FL = 212 -3
GA = 214 -4
HI = 213 -5 (huge drop?)
IA = 209 -? (last year not known)
ID = 204 -3
IL = 213 -5
IN = 213 -? (last year not known)
KS = 212 -1
KY = 208 -4
LA = 206 -3
MA = 223 -1
MD =221 -2
ME = 211 -? (last year not known)
MI =209 -2
MN =213 -? (last year not known)
MO = 211 -3
MS = 202 -2
MT = 207 -? (last year not known)
NE = 207
NV = 208
NC = 214 -1
ND = 202 -? (last year not known)
NH = 215 -1??
NJ =221 -2
NM = 208
NY =219 -2
OH = 211 -4
OK = 207 -1
OR = 213 -2
PA = 214 -3
RI = 212
SC = 210
SD = 203 -? (last year not known)
TN = 213 -4
TX = 215 -2
UT = 202
VA = 217 -3
VT = 216 -? (last year not known)
WA = 215 -4
WI = 208 -3
WV = 200 -6
WY = 200</p>
<p>I think that last year the scores went down mostly because of the writing section. The curve for this section has changed to more effectively reflect the SAT writing section.<br>
The national score index this year slightly decreased.
Do you think that it is likely that there will be a 5 point increase in any of the state-cutoffs?
What is the range of most scores from year to year?</p>
<p>what do you think commended will be? If the avg. index score went down a point, and last year commended was 200, do you think commended this year will be 199?</p>
<p>The list was compiled from student reports and phone calls to College Board/National Merit. I verified the cutoffs against a list provided by a school counselor.</p>
<p>One way you may get an overall clue is where the 99th percentile ends. I think last year it ended at 212 and the year before 215 and sure enough the commended went from 203 down to 200. All that is on the national not the state percentile. I don't know how soon you can find that out though.</p>
<p>Then doesn't this contradict rainmama's assertion that "there are no established National Merit score cutoffs yet for current juniors"? Or am I mis-understanding something here?</p>
<p>The cutoffs do exist, but the data will not be verified until semifinalists are notified in the fall of next year, at which point we'll be able to compile another list .</p>
<p>I see now. The wait is going to be so painful. The other day, I was rejoicing that I'd qualified as a semi-finalist; now, I'm back to worrying. Time to focus on other stuff.</p>
<p>While you're stressing over this, one of you juniors can take the lead on compiling the Official 2008 NMSF Qualifying thread. Fireflyscout did a great job pushing people to complete the 2007 list, and now she can pass the baton! If you want to find older lists, you can search the site for that info - there's lots of it available.</p>
<p>I'm probably going to regret this, but I have a spreadsheet with 5 years of semifinalist cutoffs. PM me with your email and I will send it to you.</p>
<p>I requested a list of previous qualifying scores yesterday from NMSC and they said they would send me one. They had this long spiel about not getting upset about some states being higher than others.</p>
<p>I am still trying to figure out where the international schools fit. Our counselor said they are the 51st state, but it looks like (from other postings) the 51st state also includes a bunch of boarding schools, which means that 51st state probably requires higher scores than the states ! Anyone know anything?</p>
<p>The Northeast boardings schools and American affiliated schools abroad have the highest cut-offs. At one point it may have been as high as 223-225. The boarding schools have a large number of top 1% scorers but many are just below the cut off.</p>
<p>The PSAT site has a new "quickstart" feature where you can see your state percentiles in addition to the national (in which I'm in the 99th). I live in IL and it says I'm in the 97th, 98th and 98th percentiles for the three respective parts in the state, but I have a score of 222... so what is the real percentile they take for semifinalists? Clearly it's not the 99th, unless IL jumped a bunch...</p>