My S took the PSAT and is considered a sophomore…however based on his credits he “could” technically be a junior if he decided to graduate a year early. Would he be able to use or qualify using this years score?
Here are the rules from this year’s competition (currently in full swing). Check out pages 5-6:
The relevant passage from that document:
Students who plan to leave high school early to enroll in college full time after spending three years or less in grades 9 through 12 usually can participate in the National Merit Program if they take the PSAT/NMSQT before they enroll in college. To enter the 2018 competition, these students must be in either the next-to-last or the last year of high school when they take the 2016 PSAT/NMSQT:
a. if they are in the next-to-last year of high school when they take the 2016 PSAT/NMSQT, they will be finishing their last high school year when awards are offered in 2018; or
b. if they are in their last year of high school when they take the 2016 PSAT/NMSQT, they will be completing their first year of college when scholarships are awarded in 2018.
I was wondering the same thing. In recent weeks, my sophomore son has been thinking about applying to one or two highly competitive schools next year (as a junior). If he doesn’t get into one of them, he’ll happily graduate with his class. On his PSAT form, his grad year is listed as 2019, which makes him ineligible for NMS consideration. Should we try to get it changed to 2018, even if he’s not sure if he’ll leave HS early? Does qualifying this year preclude him from NMS next year?