<p>I was commended with a 206 (I think?) and my SATs were 2200 combined and I got into Duke, Johns Hopkins, Wellesley, UNC-CH, and Southern Cal....</p>
<p>I scored a 1950 on the PSATs, which is measely by the standards of many high-achieving users on this website. I didn't study for the SATs, and received a cumulative 2180. So, to answer your question, no-- I was certainly not any sort of National Merit Finalist.
I was accepted to Yale, Columbia and Dartmouth; waitlisted at Princeton.</p>
<p>In terms of doing better on the SAT's compared to the PSAT's, the apparent reason to this is: the amount of learning in those two years between the tests, and the fact that the SAT's are designed to be easier. This is in part due to the fact that the PSAT's when it comes down to, is a scholarship competition, and that the tests must be designed to weed out lucky testtakers and defining more specifically the boundary between above average and exceptional.
Also, in response to where I'm going, I ended up choosing Harvard, because the others either had too strong a greek system (Princeton, MIT, Dartmouth), were too isolated/cold (Cornell, Williams), or legacy ridden and know it (Yale). I had actually come down to Harvard and Tufts, but I unfortunately let prestige be the deciding factor, so hmmm.</p>
<p>Well count another for me! DUKE! I just got in off the waitlist with a 175 psat (but a 2270 sat after hardwork).</p>
<p>I was commended with 205, but I didn't put anything about the PSAT in my application; I'm going to Cornell.</p>
<p>I got 2000 on my SAT and got into Carnegie ECE. I didnt apply to any "better" schools than that.</p>
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so im assuming all the people who did bad on the PSAT (below 200 i guess) basically just went and studied a lot for the SAT? or did you really just mess up really badly on the PSAT or did you guys just not care? because going from under 200 on PSAT to like 2300 SAT is a big big difference in my opinion
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<p>i didn't prep for the PSAT, but did buy one of those standard books for the SAT which really helped me get a feel of how to get past all the exam's tricks. when it comes to standardized testing, the high scorers just end up being the ones who have good testing skills- they can recognize all the traps in the questions. i studied only on my own- as long as you have the motivation to sit down and do it yourself, you really don't need a private tutor.</p>
<p>for me, it really was just about studying. i took the PSAT cold, and was commended, but just missed the border for NM. i took the SAT twice, and after prepping by myself much more the second time around by studying more from my SAT prep book, my score went from the 2100's to the 2300's!</p>
<p>I have a story similar to lollerskates', but I scored lower actually. I got a 189 PSAT w/o prep, and after studying on my own I was able to raise my score to a 2250 single sitting and 2330 composite.</p>
<p>There's a realization, I think, that NMF measures so little that it's virtually useless as a measure of potential.</p>
<p>My friend and I were both commended; we'll both be heading to Princeton in the fall. He's also salutatorian and USNChO finalist.</p>
<p>Got a 2010, going to the Naval Academy</p>
<p>I didn't take the PSAT junior year. I got a 182 or so sophomore year. I got a 2250 on the SAT, and I'm going to Rice.</p>