I'm a freshman in highschool...

owlice
Thu, 11 Jun 2009 04:36:51 +0000

Don’t forget that only the PSAT test scores as a Junior count toward National Merit standings. Your Sophomore scores will not count.



Unless you skip senior (or junior and senior) year.

If a kid accelerates – graduates or leaves high school early – a sophomore PSAT score can be used for the National Merit competition. Heck, if you know early enough, I think even a freshman score can be used.

S took the PSAT as a freshman and as a sophomore; he’s finishing his sophomore year now. He’s dropping out of high school after this year to go to college full-time in the fall. His sophomore score has been activated (as the NM folks say) for the NM competition, and unless the scores in our state jump up by four points, he should be named a NMSF in the fall.

I had to write to the NM folks to ask that his score be activated. Had I known last year that he’d be going to college next year, his freshman score (which was 8 points higher than his sophomore score!) could have been activated for this year’s competition (meaning he’d have been notified last August of his NMSF status).

Thank goodness for CC; it was a poster here (tokenadult, IIRC) who alerted me to this possibility, and I’m very grateful!