<p>I deleted the student’s email that posted they had the booklet with all the scores from their principal, so they wouldn’t get in trouble, but the student messages me and said DC had a 224 still. I asked them if maybe they were last year’s scores and asked if MA said 223 or 224, and they said 223. Which is what has been confirmed here. So devastated right now. No words.</p>
<p>I very seriously doubt that a principal was given that information, or that it would be shared with a student. None of the Homeschool principals here have reported receiving any such booklet, and I’m sure they’d tell us if they did. Hang on, @greatfallsmom, I think your son is still in the running.</p>
<p>Thanks @suzy100. If the student didn’t confirm that MA was 223 this year I would be a lot more cynical. Just praying that some student was just playing a mean prank. But boy does this look bad. </p>
<p>I am with @suzy100 on this one. Don’t give up yet! </p>
<p>Thanks @EastCoast1 @suzy100 @PAMom21 It is so hard for boys to keep up great grades and scores without feeling peer pressure to have fun instead of studying. He was so hopeful for this as validation that all the hours in the library instead of hanging out was worth it. I really bought into the numbers, the commended going down 2, really everyone going down. </p>
<p>Can someone tell me if the NMSC also mails letters to the students home address? We have a principal that is not very active. I have asked him if he has received any information in the mail and he really did not know what I was talking about. My D has a 215 in Michigan. My oldest daughter was a National Merit Finialist in 2004
With a score of 211 in the state of Michigan. That has been 10 years ago and I can not remember if we received a letter in the mail, at that time we had a wonderful principal that was on top of everything.</p>
<p>@greatfallsmom - I think suzy has an excellent point. If that student got such booklet from his/her principal, how come non of the homeschooling parents got the same booklet? Somehow I just don’t buy it. I know it’s hard but try to hang on. </p>
<p>I can tell you that there is a HUGE variance in quality of education in my home state of New York, particularly within the metropolitan area. How is a higher cut off fair to the New York State kids in lower performing schools? The argument that education is not equal across the states doesn’t hold water. It’s not equal across individual states, including those with a small nucleus of particularly high performing districts. As a New Yorker, I’m not thrilled with the lack of national cut off, but my heart really breaks for kids in Mass, Cali, etc… A family in Utah is breaking out the champagne while a child in DC is devastated. </p>
<p>All the parents on this thread really care, are really invested, and we have kids who really care and who took this test seriously enough to be in contention. There have been a few moms or dads already who have posted that they were crushed their child missed by a point. I guess I just couldn’t imagine someone would make up something like this. Or at least I am afraid to think that’s a possibility and be doubly crushed to find out that there is a booklet out there. Thanks everyone. It’s so strange to have such a large support system out there of people we don’t know. </p>
<p>For those disappointed by silence, don’t give up hope, my child has a qualifying score and has not heard anything.</p>
<p>@SoFarSoGood22…What State are you in?</p>
<p>@UTBGSUMOM…The first letter you’ll receive at your house will be regarding progression to Finalist. Students who do not progress to Finalist usually receive a letter at the end of January. NMSC’s timeline states that they’ll start notifying students at home around Feb 6th each year (not sure if that’s a mail-out date or a “get it in the mail” date). Basically, we all hold our breath until we get into late January, and if nothing has arrived by the first week of February you can probably expect a “happy” letter by mid-February.</p>
<p>Re: National versus state cutoffs…I don’t think it has anything to do with speaking to the “quality” of education in various states. The whole goal of NMSC is to provide geographic distribution of awards across all 50 states based upon a percentage of graduating students in that year’s class. It has nothing to do DIRECTLY with the number of test takers in a given state, although the more students that take the PSAT would tend to drive the number and scoring level of high scorers up…and thus increase the state cutoff. High population states have high numbers of graduates (thus more overall SFs than lower population states) but also have larger clusters of students in the top ranges and less widespread distribution of scores (I would think). Lower population states have a wider distribution of scores with fewer testers thus leading to lower cutoff scores falling into the top .5% in that state.</p>
<p>I do feel for the students in the high cutoff states that are not in schools that put huge emphasis on the PSAT. I know there are some schools that are SF “farms” that offer prep classes as part of their curriculum, but I doubt rural schools or some of the inner-city urban schools in MA, NJ, etc. get those opportunities.</p>
<p>Our school does no PSAT/SAT prep whatsoever. I asked the 10th grade honors English teacher about PSAT vocabulary at the open house, and she had no idea what the PSAT even was, 
. Various local schools in the area assign SAT prep for homework, and take weeks out of the school year to devote to this prep. I know this because I tutor in the area. Our district has very few commended, let alone SF’s on a yearly basis.</p>
<p>I like how @DrMom68 said it above. I agree with her thoughts here from PA as well. The MD/PA cuts are hardest for me to accept, as we live very near that border. My son was fortunate to make the cut here in PA, but he would have missed by one point right up the road in MD.</p>
<p>I called the NMSC last week because I wanted to know if a school would receive a letter if they did not have any Semifinalists. I was told that all high school principals receive a letter and if there are no Semifinalists in a particular school, it would be stated in the letter. The NMSC person then volunteered that HS principals also receive a booklet that lists all the Semifinalists, nationwide, but did not specify when this is sent. I seriously doubt that this booklet would list cutoff scores. It is my impression that the NMSC does not publish cutoff scores. A parent can call on Sept. 10 to find out if their child is a Semifinalist and can request one, and only one, cutoff score.</p>
<p>The NMSC will issue a press release to the news media on Sept. 10 the names of all Semifinalists nationwide.</p>
<p>I missed the post that was deleted so I am do not know what was revealed. Again, I am reporting what one person at the NMSC told me. I do not have firsthand information that this is correct. My daughter’s principal is still keeping silent.</p>
<p>I don’t believe the home schooling “principals” are receiving letters saying none of their students have qualified. Can anyone confirm or counter that?</p>
<p>@NJMom97 the student posted that he or she thought we were all spending way too much time on this, but that they got a booklet with all the state cut off scores from their principal on Friday when they found out they were a SF. The poster said they tried to post a picture of it but it didn’t work, so they asked what state cut offs hadn’t been confirmed yet. I asked about DC and asked if he or she could message me if they didn’t want post it publicly. The person deleted the post, but did message me to tell me DC was listed as 224. Then they asked me to tag the tag with their name on it down so that they didn’t jeopardize their scholarship chances by posting confidential info. I did then ask if MA said 223, and they said yes, so I knew it wasn’t last year’s numbers. I think someone thought NJ went down to 223 (maybe it was you?) so I am hoping your child made it. </p>
<p>@greatfallsmom, I don’t think DC cut-off could be the same as last year. I quickly looked at the state report and compared 2012 numbers with 2013 numbers (i.e., class 2014 vs. class 2015). The % of the test takers who got 75-80/ 70-74 in each section (CR, M, W) seem quite different and of course 2013 numbers are much smaller than 2012 numbers. </p>
<p>2012 (class 2014)
CR Math W
75-80 2.4% 1.8% 2.5%
70-74 4.5% 2.9% 3.7%</p>
<p>2013 (class 2015)
CR Math W
75-80 1.7% 1.7% 1.2%
70-74 2.7% 3.0% 3.1%</p>
<p>You can see a huge difference between the two years. Of course these numbers don’t predict the cut-off scores at 100% confidence level. We just know the % of each section and there might be kids who have much higher/lower Ns in one or two sections than in other sections. However, unless the N of graduating seniors are dramatically decreased at DC this year and the N of SF has been decreased accordingly (which is very unlikely), I think the cut-off cannot be 224 again this year. Well… I spent ton of time playing with the Ns of my state because of my bubble kid. At least for me, it is not likely that DC cut would be 224 again this year. Also, GMT’s prediction was 223. As a fellow bubble mom, I know what your feeling is now. I might be wrong, but I really don’t think the score would be 224 again. </p>
<p>@pom2015. Thanks - those are the same conclusions I came up with all spring. But another poster confirmed with NM folks that they do send high school principals a booklet of all the semifinal it’s nationwide, so unfortunately it all just rings too true. I just can’t believe it would be the only one though. Even my husband, who has thought for the past week that I’ve lost my mind and soul to the internet (mostly this thread !) was stunned when I told him what the booklet supposedly says. Here’s hoping as a bubble mom that my bubble didn’t just burst 
I hope your child made it through!</p>
<p>There is a book, but it seems that the homeschool principals don’t get it as none of them ever report having such a thing.The reason I know there is a book is not because I have access to or have ever seen the actual book, but because 2 years ago there was a student posting on the 2013 thread who worked part time in the school office and had access to the book. She gave the cut scores for all states and also offered to send anyone who PMed her a screenshot of the page that contained their child’s name if it was there. She did send me such he pic with my daughter’s name and 20 or so adjacent names. It appeared to be identical to the pdfs of state lists that sometimes are posted in newspapers, where names are divided by district. The scores she gave were all accurate. Obviously the mods were less than pleased. That portion of the thread was deleted and probably the poster lost her CC account, as I mentioned some pages back. Those of you here who had seniors graduating in 2013 may recall this.</p>