<p>Curious about the PSAT and NMSQT...
My PSAT scores for Freshmen year were CR: 56, M: 54, and WS: 59.
This amounted to a 169/240, which put me on the 80th percentile against college-bound juniors. I also didn't study at all for this.
I will probably increase in my Sophomore year, and in my Junior year. But I also want to qualify to at least be recognized on some level by the NMSQT, even if I don't get a scholarship or anthing.
Roughly how high do you think my scores should be in order to do this?</p>
<p>The cutoff for National Merit Commended is about 200, and the cutoff for Semi-Finalist is anywhere from 205-225, depending on the state.</p>
<p>thank you
I think I should be able to do that :)</p>
<p>Try for over 200 to reach the first stage of NMS.</p>
<p>You will get some kind of recognition if you get above 200. Good luck. Actually, I took it in sophomore year and got around a 173 and then I took the real thing in junior year and got a 205. However, I did study a bit.</p>
<p>Don't count on 200 being the cut-off for recognition in two years... for the past several years, the first cut-off has gone up one point every year. It dropped this year because of the new writing curve (and also happened to not raise for the first time in several years) but judging by history, it will be 201-202 in a couple of years. It may not seem like a big difference, but there are people who miss it by one.</p>
<p>i'd strongly recommend that you do whatever you can to try for national merit. it can make college a lot easier, financially speaking (the actual award isn't really that much compared to tuition, but a lot of schools go above and beyond that to get you to attend). and even if you don't make nat'l merit, it's good practice for the SAT, which can't hurt, right?</p>
<p>Thanks I'll go for it.
Does the score you get for the PSAT during Sophomore year count for the NMSQT?
Like if you got, i dunno, 220 Sophomore year, would you qualify to enter the NMSQT? Or is it only for Juniors?</p>
<p>It's only for juniors. So your only incentive for taking it sophomore year is taking the PSAT under real conditions and getting a real score report.</p>
<p>I took it in 10th grade and got 198, then in 11th grade i got 214. I probably will get semi-finalist because of my state.</p>
<p>You can do a decent amount of improvement over the years</p>