<p>Well, if you have over 700 students per class, chances are, there'll be quite a few NMSF.</p>
<p>Good teachers? My school has a bunch, and I can honestly say none of them studied for it. Everything they know their teachers taught them.</p>
<p>Out of 150: 3 SF's 3 Commended</p>
<p>Me and two other guys were the commended, while all three of the SF's were girls. We've got a bit of a gender war going on, haha.</p>
<p>A lot of kids at our school take SAT prep courses, which have raised a lot of kids' scores 100+ points, but for PSAT's, we basically just got a practice booklet and told to study. I live in Maine, SAT's are required for all seniors in the state, so there's a tiny bit extra incentive to get the good practice in beforehand.</p>
<p>It seems to me like the schools that produce the huge numbers of SF's have a distinct economic advantage, in that they're either private or in a community that can afford private tutors. Inner-city schools that lack the financial boost and have greater numbers of first-generations obviously will produce fewer SF's, so I think the root of the problem isn't prep, it's atmosphere.</p>
<p>This was an off-year: 20 NMSF, 30 Commended/97 students. We have the most in the state of Missouri year after year, regardless of the size of the high school class.</p>
<p>How do they do it? Very bright students coupled with a rigorous curriculum. No class study sessions, although many do practice tests, etc.</p>
<p>Our public HS routinely has from 15 to 25 NMSFs every year. They are recognized at halftime at one of the football games!</p>
<p>But there is no special class offered by the school. I think this is just a district that recognizes and promotes educational excellence from grade school on up. You can't suddenly make scholars out of high schoolers by promoting a test most of them aren't prepared to do well on.</p>
<p>It's also a district where the parents are, for the most part, well-educated and insist on high standards for their children. Interestingly, a large number are from other countries and English is not the language spoken at home. But still the kids do well at school. :)</p>
<p>Edit: I would add that the NMSF's when interviewed say they didn't do any special preparation for the test.</p>
<p>"But there is no special class offered by the school. I think this is just a district that recognizes and promotes educational excellence from grade school on up. You can't suddenly make scholars out of high schoolers by promoting a test most of them aren't prepared to do well on."</p>
<p>What better class than to provide educational excellence for the previous 10 years. Wish all school districts had that mentality.</p>
<p>Thank you for those kind words, J'adoube!</p>
<p>I am rather proud of my kids school.</p>