<p>I just learned of a boy who attended a 5 wk. SAT Prep Camp this summer between his Fr. & So. years. Is this a norm for qualifiers? My son just took the test So. and Jr. yrs and did practice questions on Collegeboard.com. I'm really proud he was able to qualify, if others are going to such extremes.</p>
<p>I'm in CA - class size 550 - 6 nmsf</p>
<p>(public) 160 in grade- 10 NMSF, 20 Commended</p>
<p>CANmom,
None of the kids I know who made NMSF took a prep class. Their "Prep" consisted of:
a) doing nothing -- walking in cold
b) looking at a couple of old tests to review the format of the questions
c) working from old practice tests/test prep books on areas that can use improvement.</p>
<p>DS1 took it cold in 9th and 10th, and did (b) in 11th. DS2 took it 9th cold, will take it in 10th with (b) if time permits (no biggie if he doesn't have time), and will do (c) before he takes it in 11th.</p>
<p>Our school system offers the PSAT to 9th and 10th graders for free, in the hopes of raising scores and getting more kids to consider college. So, it opens up this opportunity to all, not just those who have $$ or whose parents know what needs to be done. Since the practice tests are given universally (the school system makes a HUGE deal out of making sure kids show up), I didn't categorize taking the test in 9th and 10th as beyond the ordinary. Our school system also offers an SAT prep class that one can take as an elective -- again, it's an effort to raise scores and to get more kids looking at college.</p>
<p>However, in other school systems, they don't allow 9th graders to take it, and only give top students the opportunity to take it in 10th.</p>
<p>Thanks, CountingDown. It sounds like your school system is aware of the potential benefits to students of excelling at these standardized tests. Our district only pays for juniors to take the PSAT, so 12 out of about 400 took it in ds's sophomore class. Beginning last year, they made the collegeboard web site prep available free of charge. Our Academic Booster Club was paying for the AP exams, but the district picked that up last year, too. At least they're moving in the right direction. We have a great football stadium, though! ;)</p>
<p>I was just unaware students were attending these intense prep camps.</p>
<p>515 in senior class ('08), 1 Semifinalist, 2 Commended (public school). I can't believe how many semis some schools have!</p>
<p>class size 335.
I was the only one out of all the surrounding schools.
from OH
ps. isn't who got NMSF supposed to be secret until the 12th?</p>
<p>3 out of 130</p>
<p>1 natl achievement</p>
<p>2 of the 3 nms semifinalists are hispanic and would have qualified for natl hispanic thing</p>
<p>In our class of 189, we had two NMSF (my brother and me). I had a score of 221, he had a score of 219.</p>
<p>We had one Commended.</p>
<p>Last year we had one NMSF and one Commended and, other than these last two years, no one has gotten it in five years. I would guess people hadn't gotten it before that very often, either, but I wouldn't know since I didn't attend then. :P</p>
<p>out of a class of 16, 1 NMSF (me)</p>
<p>my school had 35 last year class size was about 190 which was down from the usual 49 or so</p>
<p>There were 2 out of 280 at son's public high school. MA has one of the highest cut-offs.</p>
<p>how do you obtain national merit semi finalist? and is it a high honor or just like eh ok thats cool
--i believe my school had abbout 30 out of 400</p>
<p>20/440
and i thought our numbers were average
haha</p>
<p>If you qualify (meaning you are in the 11th grade, and are a citizen I think), and are among of the top 1% scorers of those who take the PSAT. Also, the cutoff is dependent on which state you are from--some strong states like Massachusetts have cutoffs in the 220s, while Florida has a cutoff in the 210s.</p>
<p>It is a high honor (at least that's what my guidance counselor told me) because you are considered a "top" student.</p>
<p>NMSF means (roughly) you are in the top 1% of all the students in the country in your class (Class of 2008) who took the PSAT in the previous year.</p>
<p>I seem to recall the PSAT is taken by 1.8M students, so the "bad news" is that a NMSF is one of approximately 18,000 students.</p>
<p>The size of the admission class for a selective non-public college or university and for the OOS students portion of a class at a superior state university is usually something less (and ofter WAY less) than 1000.</p>
<p>NMSF are very rare. Our high school, which is top rated and does well on a variety of factors such US News rankings and competitive contests ,only had about 6-8 NMSF out of about 550 kids.</p>
<p>The only schools that generally beat the national average are usually selective private schools and very selective magnet schools. Some of these actually use the PSAT in admission so they tend to have an overabundance of NMSF kids.</p>
<p>Our (public, suburban) HS, with a graduating class of around 450, has had anywhere from 16 to 24 NMSFs each year in the past 10 years or so.</p>
<p>54 students in my class. 4 semifinalists. Can't remember exactly how many commended we had, but it was somewhere around 15. CT has a pretty high cut off if I remember right.</p>
<p>Wneckid99, NMSF is definitely a high honor. Many of these students get accepted into many top colleges or enrolled in some 2nd or 3rd tiers colleges' honor program with big merit scholarships. It is not easy to be a NMSF.</p>