Question: so what exactly does NMF entitle you to?
@eb23282 Some schools give full tuition scholarships. @BingeWatcher knows best which schools. Our NMF son just got $1000/year from Bowdoin. A vast majority of schools give nothing and itās just something to put on your app. Itās one test on one day and D21 isnāt looking at any schools that give anything for it so sheās just taking it because itās required by her high school.
I can never remember what the rule is about posting links but hereās one that lists the big NMF scholarships.
@JESmom We live in NC and NCState is one of the colleges my son is interested in attending. Hopefully, we will tour it over the next few months and I will let you know what he thinks. Best of luck!!
@eb23282 , @homerdog link is a good place to start. But changes (usually cuts) occur every year by the schools. So you have to go to EACH schools website. Currently on my future electrical engineering Dās list is: Texas A&M (full tuition), BAMA (full ride), Oklahoma State, (full ride), University of Florida (full ride), University of Central Florida (full ride), Texas Tech (full cost of attendance) and Tulsa University (competitive scholarship for full tuition)
D21 thought she did well today on the PSAT. She came out looking relaxed and happy, so thatās good. She didnāt do as well as she wanted on the math portion of the SAT last August, so we were thinking of having her try the ACTā¦but we have heard the curve was brutal on the math section this past August so maybe sheāll just take the SAT again this year at some point. She is in AP Calc and doing well, so I guess she just really needs to go over the kind of math included on the SAT some more. Anyway, since she prepped hard for her August SAT, she didnāt prep at all for the PSATā¦felt prepping for the SAT kind of takes care of the PSAT too. Weāll find out, I guess. Very glad our local private school allows her to test there (sheās a homeschooler).
Hope everyoneās teens did as well as they wanted and that the process wasnāt too stressful! My kid forgot her calculator and I had to run home and back to the test center to get it to her (made it back JUST before they started test proceduresā¦phew). Other than that it seems D21 had a low stress experience, which is nice.
Was able to take D her favorite lunch. She was absolutely beaming! and her best cautious guess would be -2 reading and -1 grammar. She feels confident she will make NMF in Texas. So glad testing is over!!!..till APs in May
Thanks, @JanieWalker, @BingeWatcher hope they did well! Sounds like they both deserve it!
My daughter also texted that she thought it was OK (even the math section that she completely froze on last year). She usually has a good sense for how she does, so keeping fingers crossed. Not expecting a stellar score in math (hoping secretly for one in English/reading, though Iām not telling her that) but Iāll be quite pleased if the math score is reflective of her not-brilliant-but-solid academic record.
Hope this doesnāt mean the test was extra-easy, with a harsh curve! So hard to wait until December.
I think last yearās PSAT indeed had a very harsh curve. I guess we will have to wait and see about this one!
S21 is home and said it was OK, math was easy, verbal hard. Which is his take on any standardized test he ever takes. Heās been prepping for the Dec. SAT and I donāt think is likely to be in range for NMF so weāre just seeing this as another practice for the SAT.
@BingeWatcher I was thinking about your daughter today - glad she feels good about the test! I know how important a NMSF qualifying result is for you and her.
S21 felt that the PSAT was easy and thinks he only got a couple questions wrong. Over confident much? Weāll find out if heās correct in a few months!
DS has never really commented on any test until he gets his scores but he also said the PSAT was easy this time. His old HS let him take it last year and he did well, so hoping he can repeat. Good luck to everyone that took it!
DD thought it was easy, especially the math section. She gets her SAT results tomorrow. Hoping she gets the scores she wants and doesnāt feel the need to retake
So if everyone is thinking the test was easy, does that mean the SI cutoffs could go up?
^It is likely that the raw-to-scaled score conversion will be severe instead. Last year, one of the PSATs had a scale -1 math = -50, -2 = -90.
Yep. Last year was rough. We usually have 30-35 NMF per year and this senior class only has 16. Could barely make a mistake on their test. No room for error. ā¦especially in the states with high cut offs.
Interestingā¦:our HS has a record number this yearā¦ I think 22 NMSF. There is usually around 12-15.
I can never figure out what kind of student does better on these āeasierā tests with hard curves. Honestly, the kids we know who do best on them are not the top students. Itās very odd. When the tests are harder with a little bit more breathing room in the curve, then the top students who take the hardest classes seem to do better. Itās almost like the top students think these āeasierā tests are so easy and rush through them and make mistakes where the harder tests weed out the kids who canāt get the harder questions correct.
When S19 was a junior, CB had the first āeasierā SAT test. I remember that it was curved especially hard on the math section. A bunch of kids at our school got 800s on that math section and they were just in pre-calc senior year. So, are their 800s the same as the kids who got 800s and were taking MV calc that year? Those kids were four grades ahead in math. How can kids so far apart in math ability all score an 800? At this point, I swear that the SAT and the PSAT are like a mind game - itās more important to practice not making mistakes and being confident but not over confident on test day. The test doesnāt show differences in actual math ability at least at the top end of the scores. Same goes for the other sections.
So, whatās a student to do? How does one prep to focus like crazy, get your timing right, and be ready to make zero mistakes? Better hope to not feel under the weather that day or stressed out from all of your junior year classes. As you can tell, Iām so over standardized testing. And this is from a mom whose kids test fairly well. Iād love to get in a room with a bunch of AOs and see what they all really think about testing and how it honestly affects their decisions.
I think it just makes the results less reliable for differentiating between students at the top end of the scale. I too would love to know what an AO at a highly-selective school thinks; I doubt that they pay any attention to the fact that a single mistake on the SAT in math or writing can now cost 20 or even 30 pts. I think they just want to see high scores, period. Their reported middle 50 percentile ranges are under a hundred points per section, often near or possibly even under a hundred points composite (if they report a composite, though the ones that report a composite tend to do so for admitted students rather than enrolled).