If someone is making 220 on new PSAT in freshman year then do they need prep classes in sophomore and junior year to make NMSF?
Hmm, if you made a 220 out of 228, you must be smart enough to know that you did well! Stop worrying!
I’m not a student. Just trying to weigh need of prep classes if this one is a fluke. All of his friends are enrolling in summer prep so his parents are saying that he should too to make sure that he makes cut off for NMSF.
I very much doubt prep classes are needed. Just do the practice booklet before hand. Good grades are needed to make NMF.
No prep course needed. Prep courses really don’t cater to kids at that high of a level anyways. You can’t get a 220 as a fluke. Skip the prep course- save yourself a few hundred dollars and quite a bit of time that will ultimately be wasted.
And if 220 is a fluke, then what? A non-fluke score would be 218? Still a great score that likely would make the NMSF cutoff. You don’t fluke your way to 15 points. He’s got two years before the real thing and clearly is bright and a great test taker. Don’t bother getting caught up in the academic arms race when you have a kid who clearly is on the right path. Come back after getting his sophomore score and let us know how he did and then we can re-evaluate. I don’t get why the summer after freshman year would be done anyway. Why not wait until next year for everyone?
Is there a strong correlation between these scores and SAT? Would he need prep for SAT?
Both of my boys did significantly better on the SAT. With his great scores, no, I don’t think that he’ll need SAT prep.
Test prep always helps.
If the goal is to gain a NMS and attend a uni that is generous to NMS students then go for it…prep away and focus on the SAT track to maximize that avenue of financial scholarship. Otherwise just take things as they come as there is a long road and many factors between PSAT and the college/uni ultimately one attends.
Aiming for top 20 colleges so NMS has limited value.
@WorryHurry411 From a financial standpoint, NMF is of little value for top-20 colleges. Some students will get the $2,000 a year scholarship from the NM competition, and a few of the top 20 might give the $2,000 if the NM doesn’t. But beyond that, it’s certainly not the free ride that many schools offer.
I suspect elite colleges still want to enroll a lot of NMFs for bragging rights, just as Oklahoma and Alabama do. I would think NMF status would certainly enhance one’s chance of admittance. It certainly can’t hurt.
From my child’s experience. NMF status is of negligible value for the top elites.
No, the student does not need a prep class! Save the money that you would have spent on the prep class, and spend it on something interesting instead.
I understand the worry if it seems as though everyone else is attending a prep class–I had a few moments of wondering whether we were short-changing QMP by not buying into one. But when the student clearly does not need it, the student clearly does not need it!
@WorryHurry411 Reading your other threads, I can’t help but ask. Are you asking on behalf of a foster kid? If so, there are many people on the forum that would love to advise you on the best way to help that kid into a Top 20. The thread on Harvard right now is a little off topic and there are several posters lamenting that kids who deserve to go to Harvard (and the like) for free are not properly advised. Post 93 in this thread is illustrative.
If that is what you are doing, then there are ways to get help here without having to piecemeal the questions.
No this is a neighbors kid, not one of my fosters.