<p>Maxwellequations – Below is a a link for National Merit definitions including “commended”. The cutoff for commended varies but has generally been around 200-203.</p>
<p>[National</a> Merit Scholarship Corporation - NMSP](<a href=“http://www.nationalmerit.org/nmsp.php]National”>http://www.nationalmerit.org/nmsp.php)</p>
<p>Maxwell – Here is an even better link to a flow chart for the whole selection process</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.nationalmerit.org/steps_nmsp.pdf[/url]”>http://www.nationalmerit.org/steps_nmsp.pdf</a></p>
<p>Thank you STEM!</p>
<p>“Commended” ends the competition…those scholars do not go on to become “finalists”. But they get a nice award.</p>
<p>NMSFs and NMFs are offered good scholarships - sometimes full tuition or more - at a lot of schools, seems like particularly large out of state publics, it seems. There’s a thread for guaranteed merit awards and I’ve seen a lot of NMF awards in there.</p>
<p>That said, a kid who is scoring in that neighborhood is probably going to have a lot of good options for college whether they make the cutoff or not.</p>
<p>D went to Summer@Brown last summer and keeps in touch with friends who are older, many seniors. They are getting their accepts now too and at least a couple seem to be headed to Brown for real :)</p>
<p>D’s senior field hockey captains both are through the Admissions process:
Caption #1 is headed to Catholic Universaity to play lacrosse.
Captian #2 went ED and will be playing field hockey for Penn in the fall.</p>
<p>D’s school puts out an ED acceptance/matriculation list annually right about this time. I would imagine the College Counseling Office is busy compiling the lsit this week.</p>
<p>D has a 7 page term paper due on Friday; her last assignment for 2012. She does not take exams until mid-January.</p>
<p>Ugg. PSAT scores are being given out tomorrow night and I have to work, and DW would have to get off work early, so I went to the school and asked if I could get them today. They said no because they need to explain how to interpret the scores etc. I told them that with my kids having already taken 5 PSATs that I don’t need the explanation. I hate bureaucrats :(</p>
<p>TVcaster - ugg!</p>
<p>I hate bureaucrats too, but I love the spectacular auras here! ;)</p>
<p>And boo to 7-page papers! D’s school moved their calendar this year to put finals before the break. I think it will be nice for the kids.</p>
<p>suzy: The D would agree with you on the BOO for the 7 page paper. </p>
<p>The students don’t seem to mind exams after break. Upon returning to school in the New Year, they get about a week of new material, then begin the review process to prep for exams:</p>
<p>Exams are given in a large setting like the cafeteria or auditorium
They write exam answers in Blue Books
Exam schedule is over a 4 day period - one exam in the AM, lunch & PM exam on days 1-3. Day for used for make-ups in case of illness or an exam conflict as some students take multiple math, science or language courses. The system seems to work well.</p>
<p>This week’s challenge: how to keep D2 focussed on schoolwork (lots of exams this week!) with D1 home from college?</p>
<p>^^^^ ditto.
D1 came home sick… and now her little sister is : ( Did something I never have before- sent her to school with a fever. Bad mum! Gave her some pain med to reduce the fever. She has to get through this week. Finals are on Thurs/ Fri. This semester needs to be over.</p>
<p>We don’t have any older siblings. so there is nobody really distracting them. focusing is still a challenge - D15 has one AP chem quiz today, one English quiz tomorrow, one English test Thursday, one APUSH test thursday. don’t know if there is anything Friday. Maybe there is a test on gym Friday. :D</p>
<p>Gibson, my D runs a fever when she’s getting a cold, so don’t feel too bad. Usually motrin perks her right up. I’d think if your D really couldn’t manage it she’ll tell you.</p>
<p>Challenge here is to keep D focused on exams instead of the Christmas loot she’s hoping to get. :)</p>
<p>D1 is done with her semester and on a plane home.</p>
<p>D2 is done with all exams, and is home working on her final paper. (It was officially due last week, but the teacher gave a universal extension until Sunday, and since they use Turnitin, there’s no point in her staying at school.)</p>
<p>I’m happy!</p>
<p>PSAT results came out tonight and they weren’t as good as D or I had hoped. She had one 90th %ile and 2 mid 80s. For a kid that strives to beat her UVA sister, and is near the top of her class, that isn’t good. I guess the good news is it should be easier to convince her to study for next year’s test.</p>
<p>So the ACT Plan results are in with a composite of 29.( predicted ACT 31-34)
English:27
Math:29
Reading:28 (only 1 wrong?)
Science:32</p>
<p>Daughter is currently in Pre-cal and had Geometry in 8th and Alg.2 Honors in 9th. Based on these scores and her math classes, when should she take her first ACT? She did not run out of time and did not omit any questions and felt her mistakes in the Math were “dumb errors”. English is her least favorite subject and she dislikes writing but does like to read. She prefers the SAT to the ACT and received a 211 in Fresh year for the PSAT.</p>
<p>I wonder how accurate these PLAN estimates are for scores in the ACT?</p>
<p>Thanks all!</p>
<p>^^^ It sounds like maybe your D should just stick with the PSAT (for National Merit) and SAT for college applications. If she prefers the SAT over the ACT, there’s no need for her to ever take the latter.</p>
<p>
One wrong drops you from a 36 to a 28? Wow, that’s steep.</p>
<p>D is in the thick of finals here and she’s not a happy camper. I’m looking forward to tomorrow afternoon when she’s finally finished. She started the weekend with vigor and focus and it’s faded fast. I hope there’s still something left for tomorrow.</p>
<p>Ds 1 and 2 are headed home this week. D2 managed to get an extension on some thesis work so she will be working for at least the first part of break–ugh. As much as I don’t want their stuff to affect me, it always does.</p>
<p>I hope all the 2015 kids get or stay healthy and that the finals/papers/exams are as painless as possible. As Gibson says, this semester needs to be OVER.</p>
<p>Just picked up D from her last exam. Whew!</p>