<p>I thought you all might be interested in the Washington Post's PSAT article.</p>
<p>The</a> problems with the PSAT and National Merit program - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post</p>
<p>Interesting because a listing of state PSAT cutoffs is given at the end. This topic comes up every so often on CC. Educational opportunities vary by state and a cross country population is desired- otherwise it would be meaningless to most outside of the regions likely to have the NMS students. It is merely a screening as most NMFs do not get scholarships. Needed a simple tool to start the process.</p>
<p>Even though I don’t think I will take advantage of the benefits being a NM semifinalist gives, I think it does give me a lot of opportunities. It allows me to be considered for many scholarships, particularly merit ones, which is great as I am not eligible for financial aid. Tobe clear, I mean the ones offered by specific colleges, not the ones through the NMF organization.
Also, based on what I’ve seen and researched, I could go to college on full scholarship if I make finalist, most likely at 2 of my safetys. My favorite is the one which offered an iPad.</p>
<p>It’s also gotten me a little bit of local newspaper coverage, so that can’t hurt! Although its not perfect, and there are things other than a good test score that should be recognized, I’m personally not very critical of the NMF scholarships. Let me also say that I am actually not a great test taker - my final score was only about 100 pts higher than the PSAT, despite much practice, and my first test was actually 90 pts lower.</p>
<p>Woah! I didn’t realize my score was exactly at the cutoff. I was lucky for once, I guess. Also, the cutoff went up 3 pts in one year?</p>
<p>As the mother of a NMF who is attending college on a NMF scholarship, I love the program exactly as it is.</p>
<p>Only kidding! </p>
<p>Of course there are problems with it, but there are problems with all standardized tests. The rules are clear and everyone knows them upfront. I don’t think the PSAT is any better or worse than others.</p>
<p>^ I agree with pugmadkate. Those large scholarships, though, are offered by the colleges. They choose to use the NMF as a tool for eligibility (no doubt because of the perceived “goodness” of attracting NMFs).</p>
<p>Back in my day, everybody was one-and-done on the SAT. Usually, fall of senior year. So, the PSAT in fall of junior year served some benefit to both identify students for possible merit opportunities and give students a sense of where they might be on the SAT. Even way back then, the cut score for states like California was far higher than for Wyoming or North Dakota (If I’m remembering correctly, the old calculation was 2 x verbal + math.)</p>
<p>The world changed, but the National Merit Scholarship folks haven’t noticed. Today very few kids who are National Merit commended or semi-finalists haven’t taken the SAT by the end of junior year. Kids who want to know how they might do on a SAT can take all different types of sample exams…for free. </p>
<p>Time to drop the PSAT entirely, and rely on SAT scores (and possibly ACT scores) taken by, say, October of senior year. </p>
<p>Just ridiculous that a low-income student who didn’t know to take the PSAT in the fall of junior year but who scores 2300 on the SAT in spring of junior year isn’t considered.</p>