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<p>I got a 217 on the PSAT and a 2090 on my first attempt at the SAT. Would a 2090 "confirm" the results I got on the PSAT, or would I still need to aim higher? I have some nice EC's and a 3.93 UW GPA, currently with 4 AP's. I'm from GA, and the past 4-5 years, the semifinalist cutoff score has stayed constant at 214-215, so I'm assuming i'm bascially a semifinalst.</p>
<p>Yes, that score would confirm your PSAT results. The SAT score cutoff for finalist is around 1950 or 1960, so a 2090 should be fine. You’ll almost certainly make finalist, unless you don’t turn in the paperwork or write a sarcastic essay or something.</p>
<p>what score should I get for actually becoming a national merit scholar?</p>
<p>If you’re a Semifinalist, you’ll probably become a Finalist unless 1) you are an international student or 2) you don’t fill out the forms that come when you are notified of your Semifinalist standing.</p>
<p>^ Or you have an issue that comes out with the paperwork (bad grades, bad behavior).</p>
<p>Once you’re a finalist, I don’t think I have seen any discussion on any of the threads about a particular score making you a “scholar”. Scholar just means that you receive one of the monetary awards. So it’s based on your entire application. Many of them are corporate awards, primarily given to children of employees of the company. Those that are administered by National Merit - again - I’ve not really heard a “score cut off” for that. I don’t know that it’s black and white/math calculated that way.</p>