<p>First of all I want to stress that National Merit really doesn’t matter that much. It’s nowhere close to as important as you think it is. If you are a finalist, you get a scholarship of around $1,000, that’s about it. The SAT is what matters.</p>
<p>English class really doesn’t help much. Luckily, writing is the easiest section to improve on. You need to be able to read a sentence and decide whether it “sounds” right. Tip: Look for subject-verb agreement. Just hit the SAT books and you’ll do amazingly come junior year.</p>
<p>Great job on math, btw.</p>