<p>As far as I understand, national merit scholarship program applies to high school juniors. If a student takes PSAT in sophomore year and get above the cutoff, will he be qualified for it? Will he need to take PSAT again in the junior year? </p>
<p>I'd appreciate some information. I read the description online, would like to hear from people with experience. Thanks.</p>
<p>Only PSAT scores from junior year are considered for the National Merit program, but if a student did that well as a sophomore, odds are great that the student will qualify as a junior.</p>
<p>I think the only way sophmore score counts is if you graduate a year early. Otherwise you have to retake.</p>
<p>Thank you all.</p>
<p>bovertine is correct. Test scores taken from the next-to-last high school year are used to qualify. For all but a tiny percentage of testers this would mean the junior (11th grade) year.</p>
<p>D1 scored higher in her sophomore year than her junior year by 10 points - and missed the NMF cut off by 1. She was sick during testing her junior year. C’est la vie!</p>
<p>awwww Gibson!! But I’m sure she will do well in her SAT and college admission.</p>
<p>thanks Maxwell- she did! She is a sophomore in college and on a free ride : )</p>
<p>Ditto here with the score better in sophomore year than junior. With his first try as a sophomore, S was very close to the cutoff had he been a junior, so we got him a little bit of tutoring. He went DOWN seven points as a junior. Grrr. Both DH and I were National Merits in the good old days of no tutoring, so we thought he probably had the capability (although it was definitely easier back then, my score would not cut it today). I still have no idea if the tutoring hurt or he just had a bad day. He was still commended, but that is a far cry from the opportunities that are open to the NMF crowd.<br>
His first and only SAT at 2200+ (after some additional tutoring) indicated that he (relatively) bombed the PSAT. I don’t think our experience is common, but something to be aware of. Good luck!</p>
<p>It seems the moral of the story in this case is - even though he was above the cutoff last year, make sure he does some practice and prep this fall. I had mine prep using old SAT tests - she took the Oct SAT the week before the PSAT. Her score went up 18 points from soph to jr year, more than enough to be NMSF.</p>
<p>My D. did practice PSAT and got around the cutoff of our state. She is a sophomore. so it really doesn’t matter, right? It’s a practice this year. Hopefully she’ll do better next year as a junior. You can never tell. Our state’s cutoff score is relatively high compared to most states. Next year she also plans to take the SAT.</p>
<p>Nevermind - I see now that she is just starting sophomore year. I though you meant she had taken the test as a sophomore (from post #1)</p>
<p>If a child is sick on the day of PSAT testing, he should NOT take the test. Instead, the counselor can contact NMCorp and then a SAT test is used (I think the SAT test is then taken in Nov or Dec…not sure about that). </p>
<p>There is a question about this on the NMCorp website dealing with this issue. </p>
<p>One of my son’s classmates made NMF that way. Sick the day of testing (started the test, but couldn’t finish it), GC contacted NMCorp, they used her SAT score and she made NMSF/F.</p>
<p>My H was sick the day of the PSAT (with a high fever), but his guidance counselor told him he had to take the PSAT that day anyway. He missed making the cutoff by only a few points. </p>
<p>I also recommend taking the October SAT in the junior year, right before the PSAT, so a student’s test prep can count toward both.</p>
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<p>That is what we are hoping to do.</p>