PSAT NMS cut off from early 60's?

[ucbalumnus]

@VickiSoCal

A lot has changed over the years. For example when I took the test in 1986 neither I nor any of my junior classmates had prepped for it. I qualified in California with a 230, which presumably would still qualify. But noone seemed to know much about what that meant. My parents didn’t l didn’t. The high school didn’t publicize.

Not that many colleges in California offered National Merit scholarships. In the pre-internet days, it was not as easy to find out about out-of-area colleges and their scholarships, so it was harder for National Merit scholarships at out-of-area colleges to be on the radar of students and counselors at a high school.