<p>I'm just wondering. I think I might have just barely made the cut off for NMSF, but I'm not sure. Why do I care? I want to have at least some peace of mind knowing I have a chance of getting NMSF (don't really want to wait for Sept). </p>
<p>My thoughts: obviously a cutoff can go down or up. Maybe the economic troubles of this year made the cutoff go down? Less money = fewer people getting tutoring, scores go down? What do you think?</p>
<p>Not sure but I do know that for certain states that pay for all students to take the PSAT, the cutoff will be lower since more people are taking it. So, the states with super high cutoffs don't test as many students to begin with. Depends on your state's policy and if it changed from last to this year, I guess.</p>
<p>To my knowledge my state's policy hasn't changed. But it's not unreasonable to believe the curve will fluctuate +/- 2 points?</p>
<p>You can see last year's and the previous year's cutoffs here National</a> Merit Scholarships . If you look closely you can see that some states indeed dropped a point (e.g. Alaska). However... some states (Missouri for example) increased TWO points.</p>
<p>My guess (not knowing your scores or your state) is that you're definitely within range for Commended so I would say congratulations! And honestly? If you were my child I would suggest you focus on other things for the next 9 months - family,school, friends, job, other interests. There's nothing you can do to change your score or your state's cutoff :)</p>
<p>Yeah I'm trying not to worry about that. The only thing that irritates me is that I misbubbled on the one writing question I got wrong (-3 points). I'd be really mad if that one question made the difference between commended and SF. We'll see.</p>