National Merit Semifinalist Cutoffs

<p>Do you think that these will go down or up? Counselors everywhere were saying that this year was a hard year and the cutoff scores should go down. However, the commeneded cutoff rose by one point to 202 (from 201). What do you make of this? Also, how do you think a 215 holds up in Illinois. The index was consistently 213-214 before last year when it went up to 216. I've seen in a lot of cases when the index goes up two points one year and quickly returns to normal the nex year. What do you people think? Thoughts?</p>

<p>I live in Nevada, so I really don't have anything to worry about. Generally, the cutoff here has been about 207, so my 227 is no problem. It's good to live in a state that doesn't care about education.</p>

<p>Man, I'd be feeling really good if I were in your shoes. I'd still be okay if Illinois had Nevada's cutoff.</p>

<p>Seriously, does anyone have any opinions on this? Did your counselors tell you anything about how the cutoffs are expected to go?</p>

<p>don't feel bad. here in new england the cutoff is like 221 or something</p>

<p>I currently live in Texas were education isn't stressed vocational study is.</p>

<p>Where can you find out the cutoffs for your state?</p>

<p>The cutoffs won't come out until the September after you take it...however this is from 1998 (the latest I found after like 5 minutes)
AL...211 AK...214 AZ...212 AR...202 CA...215 </p>

<p>CO...210 CT...219 DE...216 DC...222 FL...213 </p>

<p>GA...211 HI...215 ID...203 IL...213 IN...210 </p>

<p>IA...209 KS...212 KY...207 LA...207 ME...214 </p>

<p>MD...220 MA...222 MI...209 MN...214 MS...201 </p>

<p>MO...211 MT...206 NE...208 NV...203 NH...213 </p>

<p>NJ...220 NM...207 NY...217 NC...212 ND...205 </p>

<p>OH...211 OK...207 OR...211 PA...214 RI...213 </p>

<p>SC...208 SD...204 TN...212 TX...214 UT...203 </p>

<p>VT...212 VA...218 WA...212 WV...203 WI...210 </p>

<p>WY...204</p>

<p>Anybody hear anything from their counselor? Here are some even recent cutoffs.</p>

<p>State 2005 Index Cutoff 2005 # of Semifinalist 2005 # of Commended 2004 Index Cutoff 2004 # of Semifinalist 2004 # of Commended
AL 210 233 226 208 247 201
AK 211 40 51 210 39 43
AZ 211 271 339 212 222 375
AR 202 158 16 NA NA NA
CA 216 1869 4338 216 1913 4509
CO 213 234 448 211 243 430
CT 220 184 821 219 207 904
DE 220 184 821 217 40 120
FL 214 688 1390 214 690 1457
GA 217 378 1076 214 398 904
HA 216 68 191 214 73 156
ID 208 96 72 204 92 46
IL 216 694 1752 214 726 1676
IN 212 344 577 211 339 518
IA 209 208 212 207 206 179
KS 214 177 354 212 191 274
KE 210 234 231 210 231 255
LA 209 254 217 209 274 266
ME 214 83 172 211 79 134
MD 222 331 1677 222 325 1486
MA 222 333 1668 222 337 1771
MI 210 591 632 209 557 636
MN 215 321 746 212 366 606
MS 203 154 21 200 165 NA
MO 213 344 532 212 353 511
MT 207 67 56 206 64 58
NB 208 125 87 205 125 98
NV 207 89 57 204 87 36
NH 215 75 167 213 71 150
NJ 221 480 2170 221 492 2275
NM 209 108 92 208 108 84
NY 218 955 2901 218 956 3069
NC 216 387 955 213 361 760
ND 204 50 16 202 53 10
OH 214 675 1303 212 723 1233
OK 208 224 162 206 222 141
OR 214 184 368 213 176 393
PA 215 757 1603 215 722 1840
RI 211 55 94 213 61 122
SC 213 190 354 211 206 296
SD 205 54 26 206 60 35
TN 216 258 569 213 273 520
TX 216 1273 2810 216 1248 2936
UT 204 181 49 200 196 NA
VA 219 413 1462 219 NA NA
VT 213 42 97 213 41 107
WA 216 313 853 214 350 755
WV 202 108 9 201 114 8
WI 211 378 475 209 373 419
WY 203 35 10 200 37 NA
D.C. 222 85 215 222 80 243
Territories 202 30 3 200 27 NA
Outside US 222 49 337 222 45 344
Totals 16,146 35,985 16,326 35,489</p>

<p>what is it the cutoff for NC last yr?</p>

<p>OK, thanks! I think I should be safe then...</p>

<p>speaking of the PSAT's, how did you guys prep for it?</p>

<p>Because the number of students is increasing but they limit the pool to 50,000 I would suspect the minimum cut-off to go up a bit but remain about the same for each state.</p>

<p>What GPA do you need to make National if u have Semi?</p>

<p>im freakin out lol, my si was 217, and im in ny so i think i missed cutoff by 1 point. sucks so freaking much</p>

<p>Those are cutoffs for last year, they may go up or down, nobody knows.</p>

<p>What do you NJPitcher? I sure hope they go down. I mean, aren't they kinda high as it is?</p>

<p>I'm in NY with a score of 218... i'm DYING over here lol</p>

<p>Haz, do ya mean what do you think? I personally think they'll go down for semifiinalist because apparently the test was unusually hard (according to my GC). The reason the Commended score went up was because of the increased number of students taking it. I got a 223 in NJ, so I'm feeling good, but not completely confident. Stupid 66 on CR...</p>

<p>what is commended for this year?</p>

<p>NJPitcher, your reasoning makes sense. I was wondering why the commended cutoff went up this year. Hopefully, you're right.</p>