<p>sorry to be annoying, but does anyone think 222 for NJ will make semi-finalist for current juniors (graduating in 2008)</p>
<p>jerseyboy-
Look back at post #662. The NJ cut was 222 for a few yrs but apparently went up to 223 this yr (for class of '07). It is possible it can drop back a point, so hang in there,and don’t bite your nails too much…</p>
<p>has anyone here been told whether or not they made it to finalist yet?</p>
<p>Letters will be mailed to high school principals February 2nd and will be mailed to the student’s home February 7th. Letters should arrive next week to the schools. This is a link to all the important dates at the NMSC site provided by someone on the parent forum.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.nationalmerit.org/Merit_R&I_Leaflet.pdf[/url]”>http://www.nationalmerit.org/Merit_R&I_Leaflet.pdf</a> </p>
<p>(I assume you are talking about students who took the test October 2005, found out they were semifinalist in 2006).</p>
<p>Does anyone know what would prevent someone from making finalists status? I mean the #1 thing…one should be worried about.</p>
<p>MidwestParent,
Did you mean that students who took the test in Oct, 2006 - i.e. class 2008 - will be notified in Feb, 2008? In other words, when ppl were talking about if they made finalists or not, they were really talking about the students of class 2007. Am I right?</p>
<p>conbrio: Yes, those of us who are seniors, graduating this spring, will be (hopefully) named Finalists in a few days. The juniors, who took the test last October, will find out if they will receive any recognition in April of this year. They will be notified of Semifinalist status in September of this year, and will be notified of Finalist status in February in 2008. </p>
<p>It’s all confusing; I wouldn’t know so much about it if I wasn’t living it right now.</p>
<p>mermaid1: The most important thing that one should be worried about is keeping one’s grades up. One mustn’t get a case of early senioritis (also known as junioritis). 
Since approximately 15,000 out of 16,000 Semifinalists make Finalist standing, one should not worry too much provided one tries one’s hardest.</p>
<p>Mermaid1: the #1 thing to prevent you from making finalist status would be failure to correctly complete & return the paperwork–and make sure your school sends it in on time, since the guidance counselor or principal is responsible for the final steps & mailing. After that, failure to get comparable SAT scores would come in next (your selection index indicates the range you’re expected to score in…so for example, if your PSAT selection index was 220, a comparable SAT score would be in the 2100-2300 range. It doesn’t have to be exact, just close enough to show the PSAT score wasn’t a fluke.) After that, totally messing up your Senior year (as in failing or near-failing of classes, or failure to complete the expected curriculum for college-bound students; or getting suspended for disciplinary reasons.)</p>
<p>Although it would help on applications to some schools & for some scholarship application, for the Natl Merit Finalist, you do not necessarily have to have a super-high GPA, you do not necessarily have to have AP classes, and need not have been involved in a lot of extra-curriculars. (I know this…my 4th kid in 10 years is a semi-finalist…all 3 older sibs were named finalist. The 4 kids GPA’s ranged from 4.0 down to 3.2; none had AP classes; EC’s ranged from did-almost-nothing-extra to did-everything.</p>
<p>Thanks Nebcat!
That helps me out a lot. I was stressing over this for months…probably for no reason. I can relax now!! Thanks again…</p>
<p>Remember NM is part of a product that College Board offers. It helps “identify” students for some colleges to target, including for partial and full ride merit scholarships. That’s why parents pay for the priviledge of having their student take the test. If your experience is like ours, the college solicitations came pouring in after the PSAT scores were determined.</p>
<p>College Board needs to have a “close enough” fit between PSAT scores and HS grades to make the standardized test scores seem a valid way to predict a qualified college student candidate. It has to walk a fine line because it seems logical that if the PSAT is a valid predictor of a student’s possible success, the grades should be “good,” but since standardized tests actually tests for test-taking ability, along with knowledge and aptitude, high PSAT scores can be achieved by a student that does not necessarily have the best HS grades.</p>
<p>The rule of thumb is that if you pass your state’s “cut-off” number, its really up to the student to avoid some major blunder in the NMS process. Otherwise, you’re “in.”</p>
<p>I’m just curious - how does the whole thing work? If you make the cutoff, are you automatically a semi? And if you make semi, does the actual score affect whether or not you get chosen for Final?</p>
<p>No, your actual PSAT score has no bearing on whether or not you become a finalist, as long as your score is high enough to qualify you as a NMSF.</p>
<p>After you are chosen as a semi-finalist because of your score, you have to write an essay, get a recommendation from your principal (he talked to all the NMSF at my school), and there are some other requirements. </p>
<p>You can do a search online if you think that you may be a NMSF, just so you know what you have to do.</p>
<p>This is confirmed by the National Merit Corp. For Colorado students who took the psat in 2005 (who are now seniors), the semifinalist cutoff was 216.</p>
<p>Based on the trend established by previous year’s scores, if the OLD 2005 writing scale were used, I’d expect this year’s cutoff to be 217. The NEW writing scale they implemented for 2006 test-takers is less generous in the scoring…possibly 3-4 points less. SOOOO, I’m thinking this year’s cutoff will be 213-214 for CO.</p>
<p>Does that logic seem sound?</p>
<p>umm if it helps, i earned a 2240 on my PSAT in 2005 i think, and i was commended, then recognized as a semifinalist, as well as finalist…</p>
<p>oo and this is in NEw york, i think it maybe the percentage that matters more… its better if u r in 95%, but if its not true, do not bash me ^.^</p>
<p>The table below shows minimums for the 2007 National Merit Program (2005 PSAT) in blue, based on posts to this thread between 8/24/06 and 9/21/06. It includes historical minimums from a variety of sources, which are mostly listed in post #354. State/regions for which 2007 data are not shown did not receive adequate posts to comment on their minimum.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . '06->'07
. . . '99 .'01 .'04 .'05 .'06 . .2007 . . . change . . . . . post #s .
Commended 201 202 202 . . 203 . . . +1
AL. 211 208 208 210 212 . . 212 . . . no change . . . 231, 263, 286, 336
AK. 214 211 210 211 212
AZ. 212 210 212 211 212 . . 214 . . . +2 . . . . . . . . 321
AR. 202 201 201 202 206 . . 206 . . . no change . . . 319, 326
CA. 215 215 216 216 217 . . 219 . . . +2 . . . . . . . . 347X,376,380,398,419X,421X,425X,432,511,533
CO. 210 211 211 213 214 . . 216 . . . +2 . . . . . . . . . 714
CT. 219 218 219 220 220 . . 221 . . . +1 . . . . . . . . .491, 561
DE. 216 216 217 220 219 .<=219 . . . ? . . . . . . . . . .632
FL. 213 213 214 214 215 . . 215 . . . .no change . . . .274, 277, 324, 637
GA. 211 213 214 217 218 . . 218 . . . .no change. . . .370X, 497
HI. 215 218 214 216 214 . . 218 . . . .+4 (-2 last yr) .271
ID. 203 206 204 208 207
IL. 213 213 214 216 216 . . .218 . . . +2 . . . . . . . . .309, 312, 445, 522
IN. 210 207 211 212 213
IA. 209 209 207 209 210
KS. 212 211 212 214 215 . . 213 . . . -2 . . . . . . . . . 368, 369, 372, 428
KY. 207 208 210 210 212 . . 212 . . . .no change . . . 438
LA. 207 208 209 209 211 . . 209 . . . -2 . . . . . . . . . 644
ME. 214 213 211 214 212
MD. 220 220 222 222 222 . . 223 . . . +1 . . . . . . . . .403, 418, 420, 423, 510
MA. 222 221 222 222 222 . . 224 . . . +2 . . . . . . . . .444
MI. 209 209 209 210 211 . . .211 . . . no change . . . 411X, 473, 475. 476, 480, 482
MN. 214 211 212 215 213 214-15 . . .+1? . . . . . . . . 488
MS. 201 200 200 203 204 . . 204. . . . no change . . .375
MO. 211 210 212 213 213 . . 214 . . . +1 . . . . . . . . .234
MN. 206 204 206 207 211
NB. 208 205 205 208 208
NV. 203 204 204 207 205 208-14 . . . +? . . . . . . . . 373, 489
NH. 213 214 213 215 217 .<=216 . . . -1? . . . . . . . .609
NJ. 220 219 221 221 222 . . .223 . . . +1 . . . . . . . . 485, 514, 527
NM. 207 209 208 209 209
NY. 217 217 218 218 218 . . 221 . . . +3 . . . . . . . . .333, 338, 340, 344, 487, 601
NC. 212 212 213 216 216 . . 215 . . . -1 . . . . . . . . .506
ND. 205 204 202 204 208
OH. 211 211 212 214 215 . . 215 . . . no change . . . 247, 252
OK. 207 208 206 208 208 . . 207 . . . -1 . . . . . . . . .591, 592
OR. 211 213 213 214 214 . . 215 . . . +1 . . . . . . . . .583
PA. 214 213 215 215 215 . . 217 . . . .+2 . . . . . . . . 452, 477, 478, 509, 524
RI. 213 213 213 211 214
SC. 208 208 211 213 212 .<=214 . . . +2? . . . . . . . .272 says '06 was 215 vs. 212 elsewhere, 584
SD. 204 202 206 205 206
TN. 212 212 213 216 216 . . 217 . . . +1 . . . . . . . . .303, 405
TX. 214 214 216 216 217 . . 217 . . . .no change . . . 227, 386, 387, 399, 454, 616
UT. 203 204 200 204 207
VT. 212 213 213 213 218
VA. 218 218 219 219 220 . . 220 . . . .no change . . . 335
WA. 212 213 214 216 216 . . 219 . . . +3 . . . . . . . . .572, 574, 615
WV. 203 202 201 202 206
WI. 210 208 209 211 211 . . 211 . . . .no change . . . 610
WY. 204 201 200 203 204
DC. 222 221 222 222 222
T&C 201 . ? . 200 202 204 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . US Terr’ys and Commwlths
out 222 . ? . 222 222 222 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .schools outside the US
NE/MidAtl boarding schools . 225 . . . ? . . . . . . . . . .621
. . . '99 .'01 .'04 .'05 .'06 . .2007 . . . change . . . . . post #s .</p>
<p>uhh i don’t really wanna go through all the other 47 pages of posts and see if anyone asked my question, but is the NMSQT qualifying score like the top 1.5 percentile? … that’s what my friend said. i know someone got a 213 and they were still 99 percentile</p>
<p>woah ohio is 215??</p>
<p>I got 215 4 yrs ago and it was 99%ile. I guess the qualifying score has to be in top 1% or, like pwafflesprinkles said, 1.5%.</p>