<p>I scored a 198 which is higher than 96% of others. I heard that National Merit Commended is top 5 % and im top 4 so I would think I should get it. But i also heard that it is never under 200 so Im wondering if I can get it. and the top 5 % of 1.5 mill is 75000 or so, and I read that only the top 50,000 people get any awards. So any true, correct info is greatly appreciated. Thanks.</p>
<p>O, any info about National Achievement in Tennessee or one of the other states in TN's region which include Michigan and North cArolina and some others that I can't remember. I think I probably got the NAtional Achievement Semi finalist but just want the commended also.</p>
<p>oh, the whole top 5% thing is by state, not by that national percentile. in other words, if you live in california, life sucks b/c you need to have higher than a 220 to get anything. i think the lowest cutoff score is at around 200.</p>
<p>nw09 I thought National Merit Commended was for the nation and Semi-finalist was by state.</p>
<p>commended and semifinalists are a big group of some 50k students pulled from the cutoff by state. the top 16k of that big group are the semifinalists.</p>
<p>so, everyone=>top 50k by states=>top 16k of that bunch are semifinalists.</p>
<p>Commended is national, semifinalist is by state.</p>
<p>You'll have to wait until May to know for sure if your score will be enough for commended.</p>
<p>Commended is actually on the high end of the top 96%.</p>
<p>I'm in the same boat as you, jjsamson92. I got a 199, and I'm hoping for commended too. But I kind of doubt the cutoff will be lower than 200. Has that ever happened?</p>
<p>Anyways, I don't really care because I've already taken the SAT and I got a waaaay better score. :D</p>
<p>k thanks for the info fireflyscout. Do you know that for sure? Or did you just do the math and determined it?</p>
<p>I dug around on the College Board website for the chart of PSAT composite score percentiles. The commended cutoff for the class of 09, 200, is at the high end of the 96th percentile. Compare that to the composite score percentiles for the class of 10, the high end of the 96th percentile is 200-201. My guess (and it is ONLY a guess) is that the commended cutoff will remain at 200.</p>
<p>firefly can you link me to the information for 2010 like how many students took it and the composite score percentages.</p>
<p>Scroll down to page 3</p>
<p>I dunno...a friend of mine got a 199 on the PSAT last year, but still got commended (cutoff WAS 200 last year...). She's as confused as the rest of us, especially since there were another 5 people in our school with 199 scores who DIDN'T get it.</p>
<p>Okay, thanks for the info everyone.</p>
<p>I agree it's unlikely to drop under 200 for commended.</p>
<p>But the real answer is, commended status (as opposed to semi-finalist/finalist status) doesn't really matter, so don't lose any sleep over what cutoff will be applied to your year. </p>
<p>If you are aiming for selective colleges and/or hoping for merit money, keep your focus on making the best possible SAT (or ACT) score, as well as on your grades and your SAT IIs (now is a good time to learn what SAT IIs are required by the colleges to which you will be applying so you can plan your spring, summer and fall test schedule--it is a major bummer to have to cram a bunch of tests and re-takes into the fall of your senior year).</p>
<p>it has been 199 one year, but not lower. determined by score not %ile</p>
<p>You are correct; it is determined by score rather than percentile. However, since we don't yet know what the commended cutoff is, it can be helpful to compare the previous year's cutoff percentile with the same percentile this year to try to hypothesize whether the cutoff will go up, down or remain the same.</p>