<p>I criticize it because I despise the SAT machine. It is a waste of time and $$ for high school students. Wow, 1.5 million juniors took the PSAT. How many of them took it more than once or spent some time prepping for it? And for what? For 1.485 million, that’s 10 hours of their lives they cannot get back. They could have read a classic novel, sewn a quilt, wrote a song, learned how to tie a fly: something that could have enriched them for the rest of their lives. Instead, they wasted it on a test that teaches them nothing but the futility of their efforts.</p>
<p>Bay…at that stage, the time to take the PSAT, you are supposed to have gained knowledge in different subject through the previous academic years at school.
The most common reasons for taking the PSAT/NMSQT are to:</p>
<p>"Receive feedback on your strengths and weaknesses on skills necessary for college study. You can then focus your preparation on those areas that could most benefit from additional study or practice. </p>
<p>See how your performance on an admissions test might compare with that of others applying to college. </p>
<p>Enter the competition for scholarships from NMSC (grade 11). </p>
<p>Help prepare for the SAT. You can become familiar with the kinds of questions and the exact directions you will see on the SAT."</p>
<p>All of the above are benefits. A tests is a tool, that some students hate, but necessary to measure knowledge!
I know many kids that only has taken the PSAT and SAT once…and yes many are avid readers! Why not? What’s wrong to learn and to have a passion for knowledge?</p>
<p>And how many of them took it once only? Why think that those who achieve NMF status all sweated hours upon hours instead of reading a book? The best way to do well on the verbal side is actually reading. It’s not an either/or proposition.</p>
<p>bluebayou: My post said that there are sour grapes on this thread, nothing about the person in the OP’s original article. Personally I think the principal at the school in article is making judgments based on his limited perceptions of the students who make NMF. </p>
<p>My daughter has it better than many, but is not a product of a rich family. Both my husband and I work and we have a modest house. My daughter went to public schools, not private. Yes, she is a gifted student as both my husband and I were, but I am not going to apologize for her genetics. Reading has always been encouraged as a “fun” activity, not a chore and both of my children are avid readers with very large vocabularies. My husband and I have worked hard to be involved in their lives and set examples for good behavior. Basically work hard, be honest and treat others well. </p>
<p>My daughter, as do the other NMFs deserve to be recognized. They excelled in an academic contest, plain and simple. When a student excels in a arts contest or a sports contest or whatever else they also deserve to be recognized. Everyone has talents and those who are academically gifted should not feel like they need to hide or feel ashamed.</p>
<p>Most colleges award National Merit scholarships ONLY to Finalists, not Semi-Finalists. As the compiler of the earlier-posted list, I specially noted those schools that did offer merit (usually much reduced) to Semi-Finalists.</p>
<p>The grade cut-off is rumored to have become more stringent lately, with even one or two Cs (mixed with As and Bs) possibly enough for disqualification (disclaimer: I haven’t read the direct anecdotal evidence on CC threads, only heard of them secondhand). </p>
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A girl with the record you enumerated was admitted to USC? The half-tuition scholarship only applies to NMFs who are admitted, and there is at least one case on CC of a competitive-stat NMF who was rejected (I can’t be bothered to search for the thread ATM).</p>
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<p>I was referring to the 1.485 million who did not achieve NMF status. Either they didn’t prep at all and wasted 4-5 hours of their lives, or they retook/prepped and wasted up to 10 or more hours.</p>
<p>What you call prepping, I call learning things.</p>
<p>Hardly a waste of time.</p>
<p>Frankly, I am astounded by this thread! We recognize students for perfect attendance, for being on winning sports teams, for being part of various student organizations. Why in the world would we stop short of recognizing academic success. Why would schools who routinely note to athletic scorers stop short when recognizing the ‘scores’ of some of their top performing students?</p>
<p>Why should taking the test be considered wasted time if the students do not achieve NMF status? If they did not prep, they got practice. The principal aim of PSAT, surprise, is not to award NMF status or disburse funds but to prepare students for the SAT. Five hours of their lives wasted? As opposed to doing what, precisely? WoW? Haunting malls?</p>
<p>Does the author’s school not recognize students for anything at all? Why the focus on NMF? I think a school that charges $31k in tuition is not in a good position to diss NMF because of NMF status (like most academic achievements) correlates with SES. What a killjoy! “Students, you did not really earn the NMF recognition. It’s all due to your parents’ wealth.” Sheesh.</p>
<p>It seems we recognize all kinds of achievements that are no doubt highly correlated with parental income…hard to become a reknowned-something without someone investing the time, cost, lessons, coaching and such. Sad but too often just reality.</p>
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<p>Well said. </p>
<p>Our public schools have driven me crazy the past 16 years, but I chalked up many of the problems to where we live. The high school may pretend that academics are important, but the dancers and sports teams get SO much more credit for excelling than any of the academic programs. </p>
<p>This state has a senator who actually wants to do away with 12th grade! Great – America has already fallen far behind so many other countries in the education of our students, especially in the sciences. Let’s dumb down even more!</p>
<p>I know several NMF’s, none of whom are well-off or have had any prep courses. </p>
<p>I am sick of heaping public praise on athletes … signings make the local paper, pictures and all … but hiding academic achievement. </p>
<p>It’s a sad commentary on our times.</p>
<p>Well, my youngest daughter has no hope of ever being any kind of NMF or any variety of honors student at all, but I am all for recognizing hard work and success in all the areas. I loved the earlier story about the kids who are quiz kids and getting to have a pep rally. I think it’s fantastic. </p>
<p>I have a really succesful athlete and an incredibly talented actor and both of them have gotten all sorts of public recognition for all that hard work and time comittment. They both go to all the award nights for thier friends: sports, or arts or academic, makes no difference. My athlete is uber impressed with her uber academic friends and is one of thier biggest cheerleaders. In return they come to her games. </p>
<p>I think it’s great when we just say hey, good job.</p>
<p>Re post 90: Indeed. Which is why I don’t see the fuss about NMF recognition.</p>
<p>Coming from a fairly bad school in FL, I would say that NM shouldn’t be hidden, but it is extremely overrated…</p>
<p>My school officials seemed to care more about the NM semi’s than the fact that I got both Intel and Siemens semi, because more people know what NM is.</p>
<p>Not to mention the purely superficial thought of intelligence behind the award, it is only based on a single sitting test. I mean how much weight can be placed on something that is 3 hours long?</p>
<p>If that is all that was to it, one could administer it to 5th graders. There is an assumption that some learning has to precede the taking of the test.
I’m not defending either the PSAT or SAT, but I don’t see what the fuss is about NMF recognition.</p>
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<p>The SAT machine is set up for high school students to spend 5 or more hours of their lives to take a test to prepare them for spending another 5 hours or more taking another test that teaches them nothing but how to take a test.</p>
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<p>Is that what your kids did when they weren’t taking standardized tests?</p>
<p>The public schools my kids attended didn’t make much of a deal about NMSF, mainly because so many kids in their programs got to that level. OTOH, my S who had a PSAT that would have made NMSF in 48 states but not ours, would have been happy with some small nod. (And even happier to live in another state where he would have qualified and gotten merit $$ at a number of schools on his list!)</p>
<p>Coming quite late to this thread:
I would hope that his high standards keep the school from honoring any athlete (what is one game or season, after all?), or musician (it’s just a 60 minute audition, after all), since there (in his opinion must be) no relation between those honors and being from a middle-class or higher family and having private music lessons, or being in club-level sports and having private coaching .Sheesh.</p>
<p>They shouldn’t stop honoring NMF’s, but people need to recognize that it really isn’t the BFD that so many take it to be. Your kid got a 205 in WY and is a NMF? Congrats, but he has a snowball’s chance in hell of getting into Harvard, so don’t pressure him to apply if he doesn’t want to. No, NMF is not a hook. To the thousands who post in the decisions threads, no, NMF is not a “major award.” And to the principals: stop touting the number of NMF as some magical mark of academic excellence at your school. The kids who do well do so because they are naturally intelligent, are motivated on their own, or have the money for a prep course. </p>
<p>If there was some way to do National Merit for the SAT, I think it would be better. Since the SAT is actually required by most colleges, more people would make the effort to take the test. Perhaps students who took the SAT by a certain date (March? of junior year) and scored above a certain threshold (higher than those of the PSAT - makes the award more meaningful) are automatically entered into the competition. Score choice would be eliminated (a BS policy to begin with) and the program would receive all scores.</p>
<p>Unrealistic, yes, raises other questions, yes, but a better program IMO.</p>