<p>Hello. I'm a sophomore, and I'll be taking the pSAT next year. I'd really like to apply for the national merit scholarship, so I have two questions.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>My freshman year, I had awful grades. C's and B's. This year, my sophomore year, I have had nothing but straight A's (high A's, for that matter). Will my stupidity from freshman year kill my chances of being considered? I live in Oklahoma.</p></li>
<li><p>What is the best way to go about studying for the pSAT? I'm contemplating getting Princeton Review's, "Cracking the pSAT" and studying it. I'm also goign to ask the 11th grade counselor to give me a practice test tomorrow for it. Can you shed some light on the aforementioned book, and if there're any others/more books that I should study?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>First of all, you don’t “apply” for the National Merit Scholarship. They pick you You have to score above a certain score on your junior year PSAT to be in consideration. That cut-off score varies from year to year and state to state, but it goes without saying that you have to do very well to qualify. If you score well enough, you’ll be asked to submit more information about yourself/your grades/an essay, etc. But all of that is more than a year away, so don’t worry about it now. Your first priority is just keeping your grades up!</p>
<p>As for prep materials, don’t buy anything that is PSAT specific! The PSAT is really a practice for the SAT, so the only materials you should be buying are for the SAT. The only difference is that the PSAT is shorter and there is no essay. It’s a little early to think about doing serious prep, but it doesn’t hurt to go ahead and buy the College Board blue book. Take a look and get an idea of the types of questions you’ll see. You can do some more intensive study next summer, since the PSAT is offered in October (then you can think about taking the SAT for the first time in the winter/spring of your junior year). You can also order old PSAT’s from the College Board site if you want some more prep questions. Princeton Review’s books aren’t bad for strategy, but if you get one, just get the SAT version. The best things you can be doing now is reading everything you can get your hands on from newspapers to novels, and getting started on vocabulary. There’s been several threads on vocab recently so check those out - you’ve got tons of time, and that’s the best way to do vocabulary. Best of luck.</p>
<p>To clarify, I meant ‘apply for’ as in, fit the criteria necessary to be chosen, however, I now see that saying it like that was very ambiguous, and perhaps even contextually incorrect.</p>
<p>The semifinalist score cutoff in Oklahoma usually isn’t terribly high, so you’re lucky there. This year it was 207 there, as opposed to 221 in places like Massachusetts and DC. As for test prep materials, like the person above said, don’t bother with the PSAT prep books. I looked at one, and it’s really just like a watered-down SAT prep book. If you start prepping for the SAT, the PSAT will be cake, /and/ you’ll be prepared for the SAT.</p>
<p>In any case, the PSAT is pretty much cake anyway. It’s unfortunate that you didn’t have the opportunity to take it this year in order to get a feel for it, but do take the practice test to get an idea of where you are.</p>
<p>As long as your overall GPA ends up in the 3.4+ range or so, don’t worry.</p>
<p>BTW…if you really want to be a serious contender, take the SAT in June. Pay the extra money for the detailed score report (don’t remember what it’s called - but it’s like an extra $15). Then, a few weeks after you get your scores, you’ll get the test booklet and detailed answer key (with your wrong answers noted). Then you’ll be able to detect your weak areas and work on those. Get Collegeboard’s SAT practice book and use that.</p>
You have to score above a certain score on your junior year PSAT to be in consideration. That cut-off score varies from year to year and state to state, but it goes without saying that you have to do very well to qualify. If you score well enough, you’ll be asked to submit more information about yourself/your grades/an essay, etc. But all of that is more than a year away, so don’t worry about it now. Your first priority is just keeping your grades up!</p>