PSAT - Should my child study to reach National Merit Scholarship

Applying to College
1

The PSAT score ONLY matters your Jr year.
You have to be in the top 1% for your state. The scholarship score changes from state to state.

The way PSAT and NMSQT (Nat Merit Score) scores are as follows:

This is pretty straight forward:
PSAT = English score out of 760 points + Math score out of 760 points = Your PSAT score

To determine who get selected for National Merit Scholarships the scoring has been “changed” to include more girls.

For the NMSQT score the following is methodology used:
Reading is the number right out of 38 questions
Writing is the number right out of 38 questions
Mathing is the number right out of 76 questions / 2

Reading + Writing + Math = Nat Merit Score (you can find online about what you need to get Nat Merit)

You can miss 10 in Math and get the same NMS score as someone that only missed 5 in Reading & Writing combines. The scoring is biased toward kids better in English than math.

Say your child is on the bubble for making it (should they study): (as a 10th grader)
If your child is really strong in Math, but needs work in English based on their PSAT score (out of 1520), they will have a VERY hard time making up the difference:
If your child is really strong in English, but struggles in math, they have a good shot at making it to Nat Merit semifinalist.

Why: It is very hard to increase your English grade in one year. Expect them to increase a few points, unless they suddenly took up the joy of reading. Vocabulary is long to develop.

But the Math score should increase more significantly as they are introduced to more difficult math prior to the testing.

In addition you just don’t have to do as well in math as English to qualify. National Merit was originally based on your combination of English vs Math score like the SAT. But there weren’t as many girls winning the scholarship, so instead of changing the educational focus to increase the math score for girls, they changed the way the test was scored (1993 - fairtest).

Today girls score ~40 points lower than do boys on the PSAT test (out of 1520), but get ~51% of the Nat Merit Scholarships.

My son scored a 225. He missed 1 in reading and 1 in math. In FL he will obtain finalist status. I am not bitter, I just didn’t know this until I looked into it and wanted to share & pass on what I have learned with others. I found the information was not readily available.

In Summary: As a 10th grader if you child scored high in english (>96th percentile) on the PSAT, but lower in math (>90th percentile) then get them some tutoring and work with them to do many SAT practice tests ~3 months before the PSAT test. They have a shot at the Nat Merit Scholarship.

If not then it is probably a waste of time and $, until they are preparing to take the SAT. It is a LOT of work. My son studies hard (~20hr/week) for the 3 months prior to the PSAT. It paid off, and I am very proud of him.

The PSAT-NMS score is step 1 to get Nat Merit:

  1. PSAT
  2. SAT - need a decent score to prove the PSAT wasn’t a fluke
  3. Teacher reference, and fill out paperwork.

16,000 semifinalists
15,000 finalists.

If you are a middle class family, like us, and your child can pull this off it is worth ever bit of effort. There is more Nat Merit associated scholarship $ than nearly any other scholarship. Ivy league school offer NO merit based scholarships. Either needs based or you have the $ to go. My family doesn’t quality for either.

Good Luck to all. I am a science geek, so I tend to write everything step, by step, straight forward. Please don’t read any negative emotions into my writing.

2

I agree that students can substantially raise their math scores from 10th grade to 11th grade. My son spent a lot of time the summer before 11th grade using online Kahn Academy to study for the PSATs. It’s FREE!

3

Your post asks a question, which is should a kid study for the PSAT. I would guess that the majority of NMSQT qualifying finalists probably do prep for it. You are not revealing a huge unknown secret, though many schools do NOT inform students of the merit aspect of the test.

So to answer the question, it depends. If my kid really needed merit aid and I was sure that he would probably be able to do well with some test prep, yes, I would encouarge it, get a tutor, study guides, etc… But it really depends on the child. IMO, paying a lot of money to prep a student for just the PSAT if that student isn’t already motivated, doesn’t do well in school, etc…might not be worth it. Any student can benefit from prepping on their own.

4

@Lindagaf “I would guess that the majority of NMSQT qualifying finalists probably do prep for it.” Prep to take the PSAT or is there a further level of testing in the process? DD scored a SSI of 224 and we are just trying to figure out what the next steps are. She did not study for the PSAT but if there is something she should be studying for now, it would be good to know!

5

@Kelman13 - “Ivy league school offer NO merit based scholarships. Either needs based or you have the $ to go. My family doesn’t quality for either.”

Have you tried the Net Price Calculator for any Ivy League schools? If you haven’t, I’d highly recommend doing so. You might be surprised. Of the ones I’ve done, Princeton was the most generous, and it turned out to be in actuality.

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The PSAT is a shorter version of the SAT, to all intents and purposes. Prepping for it now simply means you are prepping for the SAT too. @dowzerw

7

^Agree. Also, look at the list of scholarships for national merit and see if there is any chance you’re kid is interested in those schools.

Also, OP did not touch upon the varied state cutoffs. At 221, my kid would have qualified in every state except 2 (also 221 didn’t cut it for internationals or boarding school students). If you like in a state outside the top 5 for scoring, your chances are better.

Wow, 20 hours a week for months! My kid studied a total of 20 hours. Maybe if he studied another few more hours he would have gotten the 1 more question correct on the language portion (1x = 2 points off SI).

Was still worth it… Good practice for the standardized tests. At the school he’s attending he still got merit, but 3k per year less than if he made NMS.

OP, why would you be bitter?

8

Here at my daughters school they let 10th, and of course 11th graders take the PSAT. Funny thing was last year a 10th grader scored above the cut off aced it and was like “YEP I’m gonna be a NMSF killed it”! Until the teachers informed him that is only for juniors sweetie.

He took it this year and didn’t do nearly as good. You literally have to miss 1-2 question on each section you can study for it, but still by no means is it easy.

9

Thx TiggerDad, I will look at that.

10

My daughter qualified as a National Merit Scholar and got absolutely no money for it. Very few schools participate in the program in the north east. Very disappointed because everyone made it sound like such a big deal.

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@momem I think the enthusiasm of many posters is that qualifying as NMF opens up a lot of full-tuition and full-tuition+ guaranteed scholarships that allow for choices in the college selection process that include good free or nearly free options. You are correct that the vast majority of private schools will have no guaranteed NMF scholarships, or very small ones. The advantage of NMF is in giving guaranteed full scholarship choices, not in gaining significant scholarship money everywhere. For the parent/student already fixated on a specific set of private schools and able to pay for them, NMF may not matter at all.

12

I think the easy answer is take the SAT in October junior year and study for it. I know this isn’t the best test strategy for everyone but I think for the majority of kids that are scoring that high already (you’ve see from 10th grade PSAT) then it’s a good strategy.

13

Referring to the question in the subject line, I’d say yes, it can be a good idea to prepare some for the PSAT. I wouldn’t do too much, but if the student is a decent test-taker and doesn’t object to some preparation, and is close to qualifying levels, it can be helpful. (To me, “some preparation” is doing some study and/or doing one or two sample tests; I’m not a big fan of paid test preparation services.)

To give an idea, my older son just took the test as a junior, and ended up at the Commended level; at my younger son’s school, they take the test as sophomores for practice, and he ended up as a Finalist. Obviously it’s not the only difference, but I do strongly believe that if my older son had done at least some prep (again, just doing one sample test can be helpful, e.g., to become familiar with the format and typical content), he would’ve at least been a Semifinalist.

And while it’s true that at many schools, NM status makes no difference at all, there are still many schools at which it does – from a $2K scholarship up to full rides. And as others mentioned, prepping for the PSAT can help with the SAT as well.

14

@Dolemite completely agree. Study/prep for the SAT in October of your junior year in HS and you’ll be doing double duty because with no extra work you’ll also be prepping for the PSAT. And since you need a confirming SAT score to become a NMF, you need that SAT test score anyway.

15

What if I got a 1450 freshman year?

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I have a bit of a contrarian view on the PSAT - aside from SAT related practice the primary goal of becoming a National Merit Finalist is not even close to being in the reach of most students. My D’s high school hyped it and most students had no idea that they had virtually no chance. Her high school is decent in socal and had one student make it last year. My D was prepping for the ACT at the time of Junior Yr PSAT and getting high 20’s - at a PSAT to SAT to ACT correlation/conversion she needed to be scoring in the 33-34 range to have a fighting chance. So rather than spending time on the PSAT she focused on the ACT test which was the following weekend. Kudos to the amazing high stat kids who make NM Finalist as it is a major accomplishment. I just don’t think it’s for the masses and may even be a little misrepresented to the masses.

17

I would like to offer some advice that goes beyond the PSAT itself. The college process can be long and stressful for students. If a kid says heck yeah, I want to do well and will work for it, then that’s great. Let them go for it. If it is a struggle and a source of stress for the student and the family, though, I would ask, is it worth it? I think letting kids enjoy high school for its own sake is extremely important. Developmentally they have a lot of growing up to do. Learning about themselves, what they like, what types of relationships are important to them, are most important. Going through this in a healthy and natural way is more important to their future success–in college and beyond–than a few points on a junior year of high school test, even if it marginally improves the chances of receiving merit money. If they are going to get merit aid out of the PSAT, there’s a very good chance they will get it otherwise. There are so many terrific schools. The application process (and life) tends to have the best outcome when students are trying to find a school that is affordable and a good fit for them, not trying to compete against thousands of others across a large nation for some sort of vague prize. Good luck with the whole process!