Hi-NYC changed to having all sophomores take the PSAT as sophomores, and not as juniors, even though only the juniors score qualify for possible NMS. My son got a 99% in math and a 95% in English last year. Should I bother to seek out a place in NYC that gives it to juniors (on Saturday since he is in school on Wed) in case he would qualify for NMS or finalist? Meaning, would these types of scores possibly give him NMS or finalist status? And in any case, does it really matter in terms of applying to schools or better to just focus on grades and SAT prep? thanks,
@BrownieMotion Yes, if you have any interest in National Merit you have to take the PSAT in your Junior year. You might see if he can take it at his school with the 10th graders. Our school is paying for all 10th graders to take the PSAT and although 11th graders must pay to take the test, they are encouraged to take the test along with the 10th graders. SAT prep and PSAT are the same thing. My kids take the Oct SAT in 11th grade so they are prepping for both at the same time.
It won’t hurt in applying to schools if you are not National Merit but it can help in some cases. If you are looking at schools the give big $$$ for National Merit then yes, it’s really important. My oldest is a National Merit Scholar and is going to a school that gave her a great scholarship for National Merit and I think her National Merit standing really helped her out on getting outside merit scholarships too.
Personally I think it’s worth giving up a Saturday afternoon for a shot at more scholarships but if money isn’t a big deal for your family then I wouldn’t worry about it.
Raw score, rather than percentiles would give a better idea of his chance of qualifying, but I will give it a shot. 99% on math means he scored somewhere between 700 and 730 (unless it was reported as 99*), 95% on English means 630.
There are two ways of looking at this:
1 - Assuming the selection index stays the same, he needs a 221 to become a finalist in New York. If he improves his scores to the range of 740 on both sections he will qualify. If he scores 76 on the math, he can afford to score as low as 73 on the verbal section (no, that’s not much room for error). If you think he can improve 10 points on the verbal, it may be worth a shot. Since scores were normalized with the SAT, good quality SAT practice tests should give you an idea if it’s worth it.
2 - Semi-finalists represent the top 1% (actually less) of test takers in each state - and if other parts of NY are switching to only paying for 10th graders to take it, that will mean those remaining will be the self-selected few who are more likely to qualify, meaning it will be that much harder to be among the 1%. The percentages you quote are based on national samples of 10th graders, his 11th grade scores will be compared to other 11th graders. If we assume that most 11th graders improve along a similar curve, then for most students those percentiles aren’t going to change much, and won’t put him in that top 1%. If we look at the percentile charts for last year’s test, we see that the range for 99+ on verbal drops from 720 and above for 10th graders, to 700 and above for 11th graders. Granted these are two different sets of students, but that means one of 3 things:
1 - this year’s graduating class is not as bright as the class behind them
2 - those who knew they wouldn’t do well chose not to test or
3 - scores don’t improve much from 10th to 11th grade
(#3 would be more plausible with math scores because some of the highest scorers are a year further removed from the classes that cover the material being tested, so they’re a bit rusty, but we don’t see the same drop with math).
In all honestly, I wouldn’t consider him to be on track to reach that selection index, but it doesn’t hurt to try. How does he feel about giving up another Saturday for a long shot? If you were in North Dakota or W. Virginia where the selection index is 10 points lowed (and matches the commended student score) this year, I would advise differently.
thanks both. He probably doesn’t want to give up a Saturday to do this and it sounds like he won’t get into that top 1%.
Have him give up a Saturday morning and take the PSAT. Based on his sophomore results, he has a chance. There are also some schools that award merit scholarships for students that score in the commended range (which is usually 97% and above).
I heard about this policy from somebody who lives in the east and I thought it was crazy. Why have the schools require the SAT for sophomores, when it doesn’t “count,” but not for junior year when the payoff is potentially great for both the students and the school’s reputation?
@mamaedefamilia I believe they do it so students will have an idea on how they will do when the tests ‘counts’ and will have time to prep.
This letter was sent out to all parents of 10th and 11th grade students at our school:
I think it’s great that the school is paying for any PSAT testings, this is new within the last few years. I’m also happy they are letting parents know about National Merit.
@3scoutsmom Yes, I get that, but it seems more sensible for students to take it both years. There are probably parents that are unaware of the stakes for the junior year sitting and it seems a shame that their kids might miss out on an opportunity for National Merit.
A huge local school district in our area has now gone to mandatory PSAT for freshmen and sophomores–and not juniors! How does that make sense at all?