<p>What is cutoff for national merit and national achievement for the last PSAT</p>
<p>For the Oct. 2011 PSAT test, the cutoffs won’t be known until next September’s group of National Merit Semifinalists (“NMSF”) is announced. </p>
<p>The NMSF cutoff depends on the state in which test was taken. Listed below are the qualifying (cutoff) scores for last year’s test, which will give you an indication of your chances of making it into the NMSF level this year. The cutoff scores change every year, but usually by no more than one or two points, plus or minus.</p>
<p>AL 211; AK 212; AZ 213; AR 205; CA 221; CO 215; CT 220; DE 217; DC 223; FL 214; GA 218; HI 216; 211; IL 216; IN 214; IA 210; KS 214; KY 212; LA 209; ME 212; MD 221; MA 223; MI 210; MN 215; MS 205; MO 213; MT 209; NE 209; NV 209; NH 216; NJ 223; NM 210; NY 219; NC 217; ND 204; OH 214; OK 209; OR 216; PA 215; RI 213; SC 211; SD 206; TN 214; TX 219; UT 208; VT 217; VA 220; WA 220; WV 204; WI 209; WY 204; International 223; New England Boarding Schools 223; Commended Scholar 202</p>
<p>I have no information on the National Achievement question.</p>
<p>Ogunbi…</p>
<p>What state are you in and what was your PSAT score?</p>
<p>Are you African American?</p>
<p>Are you Hispanic?</p>
<p>USUALLY, the scores change 1 or 2 points, but last year there were quite a few 4 point jumps including my state. If you are near the borderline, don’t count your chickens too soon!</p>
<p>It was a 4 point jump in FL and I barely made it… but I think that kind of thing is pretty unusual, it’s mostly 1 or 2 points.</p>
<p>My son had a 221 on PSAT for Virgnia taken Oct 2011 as a Junior. How does this stack up</p>
<p>Aggie: As you can see from the above post, VA cut-off for last year’s testers (a year with generally higher cut-offs) was 220. If you search this forum you’ll see that the VA cut-off over the last five years has been in the 217-220 range. So his prospects to qualify for NMSF next September are very good but not guaranteed. This would mean he could qualify for some merit aid from either corporate-sponsored sources (usually based on employment or location) or at quite a few schools. It also means he could qualify for a lot of merit aid at a smaller but not insignificant number of schools. (You can search this forum for a maintained list of the latter schools, if you wish.) At least it will probably mean he will get a certain amount of attention from his school and in the local press and gives him a national honor to cite on his college applications.</p>
<p>Aggie84, Don’t forget, he should be able to get sponsorship and a full tuition merit scholarship at A&M too.</p>
<p>The cutoffs will be published in April.</p>
<p>In the meantime I am tempted to move across the border to New Hampshire. Moving 25 miles north would have dropped the 2012 cutoff from 223 in Mass. to 216 in N.H. My son scored a 221, but because we live in Mass. he will probably not make the 2013 cutoff, and in N.H. he would be getting plenty of money. We made a costly geographic mistake by living in Mass. and am definitely considering making a change.</p>
<p>Actually the state cutoffs won’t be known until August; in April the 50,000 students who are above the cutoff for commended will be notified but those making the cut for Nmsf won’t know for sure till their schools notify them at the end of August (and when the cc thread begins listing the cutoffs)</p>
<p>MassMomma: Moving to NH probably won’t help you at this point. From postings I’ve read on CC, the MA school your son attended when he took the test ties him to the MA cutoffs. Moving to NH wouldn’t entitle your son to use the NH cutoff score. If the rules allowed what you suggest, there would likely be a mass post-PSAT exodus to ND, WV & WY by parents seeking to qualify their kids for NMSF status. Let’s hope that the MA cutoff drops to 221 this year. Predictions I’ve seen are that it’s likely to happen. Good luck!</p>
<p>chucktaylor1 is correct. The relevant state cutoff depends on the location of the school attended by the student when the test was taken (except for some private boarding schools to which different rules apply). I am not certain of the rules for homeschoolers who cross state lines to test.</p>
<p>Ok before anybody packs up and moves to one of these states with historically low NMSF cutoffs – I promise that if you do, you and your children will find yourselves missing the awesome educational opportunities and cultural amenities that you currently enjoy. As I do.</p>
<p>In ND, SD, WY, trust me, we cannot just choose another school within the same district if we are unhappy with the education we receive (there is only the one high school, usually, within 100 miles), or choose the private school a few miles away (there are none). There are boarding schools, which many can’t afford, and there is the option of homeschool. Those cutoffs are low because otherwise we would have very few, if any, NM finalists. For example, North Dakota had 41 NMSF in 2010, with a 202 cutoff. That is a small group. With our smaller state populations and lower tax bases, we have fewer resources to distribute to education than states with higher poplulations, and these states tend to be very low on almost every state report card metric and ranking that exists.</p>
<p>Some very few of our children are provided an opportunity to receive a better higher education than they would otherwise have had by the NM program. I am grateful for this, even if it may be seen as inequitable to some.</p>
<p>*The cutoffs will be published in April.</p>
<p>In the meantime I am tempted to move across the border to New Hampshire. Moving 25 miles north would have dropped the 2012 cutoff from 223 in Mass. to 216 in N.H. My son scored a 221, but because we live in Mass. he will probably not make the 2013 cutoff, and in N.H. he would be getting plenty of money. We made a costly geographic mistake by living in Mass. and am definitely considering making a change. *</p>
<p>As mentioned above, cutoffs will be known in Sept…usually the embargo date is around Sept 14th. However, some will know in late August because some schools tell their students early.</p>
<p>Your cutoff score is based on the state that you take the test.</p>
<p>As for missing out on money… Yes, your son may not qualify for a NMF scholarship from a school that awards them. But, many of those schools also give big scholarships for having high SAT or ACT scores, so your son still has a chance.</p>
<p>Forget moving, for us it was just a matter of changing schools-- We live in PA and kids attend school in NJ. We did seriously consider changing to our local public school for 11th and 12th grade. NM was one of the reasons we considered it.</p>
<p>You can bet, for my younger two, now that I am more informed, the choice of high school will be reviewed with NM one of our high priorities.</p>
<p>So if we live in WI (last year cutoff 209) and my son got a 227 this year (2013 group), we can probably safely say that he’ll be a NMSF? I’m asking just because I’m going to register him to take the SAT in March only for this reason (he’s already taken the ACT plus been accepted to the colleges he wants as a junior so has no reason to take the SAT otherwise).</p>
<p>marciemi…Yes, 227 will 99.99% guarantee him as qualifying for NMSF (I believe the highest in any state historically has been 223 or 225). Assuming he has a solid GPA (usually 3.3-3.4 or higher), no disciplinary issues, he/his school fill out the forms when they arrive next fall, and he gets an SAT score which “confirms” his outstanding performance on the PSAT he will be named a NMF in February of his senior year. He DOES NOT have to “match” his PSAT score (i.e. he doesn’t need a 2270 SAT score), he just needs to achieve a “qualifying” score…historically anything above 2000 and he’ll be golden.</p>
<p>I definitely recommend that he take the SAT, do all the paperwork, etc. to complete the NMF process. Even if he’s already been accepted at the colleges he wants to attend and none of them offer NM money, you can still use the NM schools as financial safeties in case of unforeseen circumstances…or even if a teenager changes their mind (like that could ever happen 
). Congrats to you and your S on a fantastic PSAT score!!</p>
<p>227 will safely qualify for NMSF in Wisconsin.</p>
<p>marciemi:</p>
<p>The chances of him not qualifying are about at the same level as the chances of an apocalypse occurring based on inferences about the Mayan calendar. That is to say plan as if you expect the world to continue.</p>
<p>Our family is in a similar situation with our student planning a March sitting of the SAT for the same reason. I would advise you to proceed with registering him for the test. Don’t forget to use one of your “free” score recipient choices to send the results to the NMSC. You can do this before qualifiers are announced.</p>