Technically he is class of 2025. He is “trying” to get into college for class of 2029, but 2029 is not a guarantee.
What score did your son receive on his PSAT? He would have taken that exam in October, 2023. That is the test that will determine if he is a National Merit Semi-Finalist. He can’t keep trying to get a higher score. NMSF is only determined from that one testing session. If, by some chance, he qualified for alternate entry, he would have had to applied for that by April 1, 2024
The PSAT has a maximum of 1520 points, so when you say “I think 1520 is not bad” you are saying that a perfect score is not bad. Look at his PSAT score and the state where you live. If it is California, he will likely need a selection index of >221. You can follow score projections on Compass Prep’s Blog.
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He missed the PSAT registration last fall, he will take it this fall. He knows PSAT is one time deal, needs to be fully prepared, achieving NMSF/NMF is more challenging in CA.
Just clarifying. Are you saying that he did not take the PSAT during his junior year and is going to take it during senior year?
PSAT registration is done through the high school. How did he miss it?
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Yes, PSAT registration is through his high school and we received email, he’s not fully prepared, no way to get perfect score. He can have as many SAT tests as he wants.
Aren’t NM State cut-off levels and Semi-Finalist names not announced until the following school year in September? So if a senior in HS takes the PSAT, they won’t have anything to put on their college app.
Sadly, it appears that only the PSAT taken in junior year counts for national merit.
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This confuses me. SAT doesn’t count for national merit, only PSAT does. SAT is used to confirm the PSAT score wasn’t a fluke.
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Exactly. If you missed the PSAT in junior year, it’s meaningless. The top SAT score may also lead to more scholarship, many schools consider SAT score in their scholarship calculation.
I believe there’s an alternative path to National Merit based on the SAT, but the student would have had to move quickly to prove there was a reason they couldn’t take the PSAT. I can’t look up the details right now but I’d guess it’s too late if the student is currently a junior.
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Sorry, I must have gotten confused. I thought you were talking about current Junior in HS (HS/2025, College/2029), who will be a Senior next year.
But it seems from your earlier posts that he plans to take PSAT his senior year? Or did I misunderstand?
I looked it up. Deadline was April 1.
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That’s right. It’s root of this post. For those applicants who didn’t chance to get NMSF/NMF status and list the award in UC application, but some of them may acheive top 1% SAT score, just wondering if we can imply the top SAT score somewhere in one of PIQs…
But your earlier post (third post on this thread) says the 1520 is high enough to count for national merit status. But it doesn’t. It’s apples and oranges. Which is why everyone is confused and saying he can list it on the awards section. He can’t.
And I wouldn’t mention it on the PIQ either. They have to ignore SAT scores and he runs the risk of annoying an AO with this information.
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I think it is unlikely UC admissions would see this as a positive in an application. That is not the purpose of the PIQs. UC admission offices are looking to see the student use the PIQs to demonstrate qualities such as leadership, tenacity, responsibility, creativity, etc., including specific qualities that they feel fit the values of that specific UC campus. Mentioning the SAT score would seem to come across as misunderstanding the assignment, at best.
If he is a high academic achiever there should be plenty of ways to demonstrate this in his application other than the SAT score.
Also note the important point made by @Gumbymom at the beginning of this thread,
I didn’t say 1520 is same as NMSF, he can get higher SAT score this fall. My point is top 1% SAT score is big acheivement, same as top 1% PSAT. But there is no national recognition for top 1% SAT scorer, and UC is test blind.
GPA alone is not accurate indicator as it could be inflated, grading standard varies a lot by different teachers in same school. The standard tests like AP exam and SAT is fair.
Many top 10 high school graduates didn´t get 1500 and above on SAT, the evidence of inflated high school GPA.
But the UCs explicitly say they don’t want to know about scores, so working them into a PIQ is likely to be seen in a negative light, not a positive one.
It’s a shame about the PSAT, but there’s nothing to be done about that at this point.
There are some national awards for doing well on a specific number of AP exams. Is he taking AP tests this year?
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Here is that link
I’m super confused. He chose not to take the PSAT in October, 2023 because he wasn’t fully prepared to get a perfect score? You don’t need to have a perfect score to be a NMSF. Besides, the real purpose of the PSAT is to take a timed practice test for the SAT.
What do you mean when you say that he is trying to get in NMF by the end of the year?
Is he planning on taking the PSAT in October 2024 (senior year)? Will his school allow that? It is usually only open to juniors (and sometimes sophomores).
What is the point of taking the PSAT senior year?
This goes against all of the statements that you made above.
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