<p>My son seems a little concerned about his PSAT score which he took earlier today. According to him he might have scored about 210. How serious is this and can anything be done to makeup for this.</p>
<p>LOL…210 is fine…not high enough for NMST but it doesn’t matter much in terms of college admission and doesn’t give you that much money anyway. Can’t do anything about it.</p>
<p>210 would qualify for NMSF in some states. Where do you live?</p>
<p>nothing can be done…the PSAT is a one day, one test deal…otherwise, people would take the test multiple times.</p>
<p>How does your child “know” what his score is???</p>
<p>I don’t think I’ve ever heard a kid “guess” his score correctly, unless he’s sure he got every question right and got a 240.</p>
<p>BTW…my son thought he did poorly and he made NMF. Kids often don’t really know how they’ve done.</p>
<p>It is what it is…you’ll find out his score in Dec or Jan (depending on your school). From that, you can kind of estimate whether he’ll make NMSF.</p>
<p>PBush…>>>> but it doesn’t matter much in terms of college admission and doesn’t give you that much money anyway
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<</p>
<p>that is sooo wrong…
You’re assuming that the NMCorporation is the sole source of funds for NMF status.</p>
<p>My NMF son received $10k from my H’s company for making NMF, and his university gave him a free ride. That’s hardly “not much money”.</p>
<p>Oh…and when he was hired for his internship with the US Army as a student engineer. They first offered him a salary, but then when he showed up to work they told him that because they found out that he was NMF, they upped his salary another $3 an hour. LOL</p>
<p>pbush…another chime in for “wrong answer!” There are perhaps 40 schools who offer “full ride” just for National Merit Finalist. Another 40 ish offering free tuition. And some offer free tuition to Semi Finalists too. I’m not sure about Commended status, haven’t researched that. </p>
<p>BUT…as someone else said, 210 CAN be a Semi Finalists, depending on your state. 200-201 ish is usually the cut off for “commended” status (top 50,000 in the country). Then the state cut off for semi finalist varies wildly…from 201-221 this year, I think. If you live in Wyoming…you’re pretty much “in” (as a semi finalist) at 210 (I think they were 201 this year…same as the commended cut off). But, if you live in Jersey…fagetaboutit! (they hover around 221-223).</p>
<p>And, by asking “what can he do about it”…there is nothing that can be done about the PSAT. It’s a one time shot and it’s over. Unless you mean he’s a sophomore and going to be retaking next year. Or…if you mean how can he improve for the real SAT? For either…he could get (and actually use!) prep books. My D never got any books, and she ended up with the EXACT same score on her PSAT as her SAT. She took them both in October of her Junior year. Even EACH section was EXACTLY the same, how odd is that? (Well…the SAT had a zero added, of course). But she felt the Barron’s Math II SAT II book REALLY empowered her! So…maybe your school has a prep course? (Ours offers Princeton Review). If not, some prep study if he wants to improve it. However, as others have said…it’s a good score. I understand his wanting more, but…it’s at least commended and possibly semi finalist. Though…I don’t know how one could possibly know what type score they think they got. I mean, a general feeling of “I did well” or “I did poorly”, but…?</p>
<p>With the FLU season going full blast, I wonder if that would affect the overall PSAT scores. I know that my S was sick but dragged himself to the exam anyway. I am sure that his score will suffer and since it’s a shot deal, oh well…</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>oh no…actually, NM does have a way for kids to be tested at a later time if they are sick the day of the test (they actually use a SAT test then). But, I don’t think that works if the kid completes the test and turns it in. Otherwise, kids would later claim, “I was sick” so they could retake the test.</p>
<p>At my son’s school, a girl became ill during the PSAT, the school destroyed her test, and NM had her take an SAT, she made NMF. </p>
<p>As for the flu’s impact…it could have an impact. We saw dropped scores in the south after Katrina because many kids’ lives were disrupted. The Katrina kids also were tested in November to accomodate the fact that their lives had been so disrupted.</p>
<p>As a Mom who had an NMF kid. The schools indeed love to see that. The reason why is they state it in their glossy brochures, i.e. X% are NMF. It is their recruiting tool. It also says to the school, that out of 1.5 million kids, you ranked in the top 50K kids. NMF can be to some schools a hook.(not the Ivies). AN NSMF is the top 1% of every kid in the nation that took it with you. (Only 16K of them nationally).</p>
<p>Depending on your state 210, might be too low. DS scored a 220, and was one, but we were from NC, I highly doubt that at 220 in VA he would have been there for NMSF.</p>
<p>For what you can do about it, I agree, there really is nothing. You need to realize that millions of kids take it, and typically the ones that get to the level of scholarship are strong 97%+. DS walked in cold, never studied and got it. DD studied and studied and did not. It really comes down to the kid and how well they take tests.</p>
<p>I doubt that our DS got his 90K merit because of his gpa, but because he was an NMF.</p>
<p>I also agree it is a good score, and instead of worrying about how to pop it up, I would be proud of that. </p>
<p>Personally for us, I think that since DS took it as a soph who at that point was already in Pre-Calc the school curriculum helped him, since he had that foundation. It is not so much about studying, but what yo have been exposed to academically. The same is true for English, a child in the IB/AP programs will have a more likely chance of exposure to finesse questions, than the child in straight English programs.</p>
<p>If you want to help in the English portion the only class I would recommend is Latin. Plus, Latin has a yrly test and if they score high enough there are scholarships for that too!</p>
<p>Here is the link for NMF
<a href=“http://www.nationalmerit.org/student_guide.pdf[/url]”>http://www.nationalmerit.org/student_guide.pdf</a></p>
<p>As others have pointed out, being a NMSF can get you money, and a lot of money at some schools. However, it is not nearly as important as the SAT in terms of gaining admission to selective schools.</p>
<p>I do agree, NMF will not get you into Princeton, the 2370 will, but at the same point, if you have a 2370, you were probably also an NMF.</p>