<p>holaamiga, I’m pretty sure we’re just not communicating and I may have misunderstood your original question. If it’s about National Merit Qualification, that’s based on state population percentiles not national. A score may be in the 98th percentile nationally, but in the 99th percentile for a given state. So if my kid here in Oregon gets a 216, he’s got a good shot at making NMS semi-finalist, but the same score in NJ doesn’t make the cut. It seems kind of unfair on a national level, but it’s designed to make sure every state is represented. Now, for “commended” scholars, they revert back to the national percentiles (I believe – someone correct me if I’m wrong about this) and recognize high-scoring students on a nationwide basis.</p>
<p>If I’ve completely misunderstood your question, then I’d better let someone else answer because I’m sort of braindead over the stress of waiting for my son’s PSAT scores. <grin></grin></p>
<p>Oh my. Older child got a ridiculous score 4 years ago – 236. Now younger one who is (in my view the superior scholar but lesser tester) has taken as a junior. I shouldn’t . . . thought I was beyond caring about this stuff but find my heart thumping . . .</p>
<p>Well, my son just got the email alerting him to the fact that his scores are now available online via “My College Quickstart.” But when you go there, you still need the access code from the paper report. Sigh. At least it’s additional evidence that the arrival of the score report will truly be any day, now. We homeschool, so we’ll get the scores at our home address.</p>
<p>My daughter received her score from her school today. She has the paper report. She got 216–certainly good enough for Commended status but probably not for Semi-Finalist status. Her score is just under the score cutoffs for New York for the last two years. So we’ll just wait till next spring and see.</p>
<p>Is anyone else out there from New York willing to share scores?</p>
<p>I don’t have the score yet. It came by US mail last year. If they send it by mail again, it will be a few days before I get it. So if you are in NY ydo ou have to do better than 99% nationally?</p>
<p>jujube . . . on the question of “does commended mean much?” I suppose it’s how you look at it. I’ve heard a lot of people say, “it’s just a certificate and nobody cares.” That’s probably true. However, it <em>does</em> indicate a <em>potential</em> for SAT scores high enough that someone will care when it comes to admissions and scholarships. National Merit Scholarship winners (and even semi-finalists and finalists) get merit funds more readily and often have an easier path to acceptance at top schools because of that designation. But, based on my research, your potential for a 2140 SAT score is well within the range of many merit scholarships offered by both public and private schools. So, in my humble opinion, while “commended” may not mean much, the score very well could be quite valuable.</p>
<p>My niece from Illinois has been getting mail in the last few weeks that seem to refer to how she did on the PSAT (the only test she’s taken so far). My daughter from Ohio hasn’t been receiving any of that type of mail. I’m concerned that it may mean my D didn’t do well on the PSAT. Have other Class of 2012 students been getting that type of college mail in advance of the scores being released?</p>
<p>My school’s testing coordinator is on maternity leave and she’s the only one who can access the PSAT scores since they are all online this year :'(</p>
<p>kk0494, that doesn’t sound completely right. We just received today, from my daughter’s school, the PSAT score report with all the answers and the actual test booklet.</p>
<p>I got mail from Carnegie and UChicago with little footnotes that say the mail is based on your PSAT scores and your contact information from it, although I haven’t received my scores yet. This is kind of surprising, when I took it as a sophomore the best mail I got were from random sub-par colleges. I scored a 173 in 10th grade. Hopefully this means I did much better.</p>