2019 national merit semifinalists

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:is market school maret?

Yes

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://patch.com/district-columbia/washingtondc/55-washington-dc-students-named-national-merit-semifinalists

Thanks for posting the 2019 list. People should refrain from judging a school’s merit based on those scores. While it’s certainly a “nice to have” honor for the students, qualifiers tend to be those whose parents seek (and can pay for) intensive test prep from an earlier age than most public school parents are even aware that their kids will *take* the PSAT again. My own child, from a public high school not on this list, didn’t do particularly well on the PSAT because we didn’t know that early test prep can boost some kids’ scores into this range. After just a little test prep, his SAT scores are close to perfect, so maybe if he went to a school that told us ANYTHING AT ALL about this stuff (no, I’m not this bitter all the time), we would have considered starting early enough for the PSAT, and hey, maybe our school would be on this list with Sidwell, etc. Honestly, our school can’t even hold a regular school-day SAT without being 100 chairs short, starting two hours late, etc. it would be a miracle if any of our kids, smart as many are, made this list.

But your post is exactly why I *would* judge a school based on this list. I have no doubt that Wilson and Banneker, at the very least, have kids smart enough to make this list. And yet each has not a single one. That — as well as your anecdotes — makes me think poorly of those schools. SWW having 7 is incredibly impressive. It makes me think the school has its shit together.

[Anonymous]

Based on data I've been able to collect for a number of DC area schools over the last 6 years, here is the average percentage of each school's graduating class that has qualifed as National Merit Semifinalists. Note that for some non-DC schools, I couldn't find a complete 6 years of data.

Sidwell 10.4%
St. Albans 7.7%
GDS 5.7%
NCS 4.4%
Holton 3.6%
Heights 3.2%
St. Anselm's 3.2%
Potomac 2.5%
Maret 2.5%
Walls 2.4%
McLean 2.4%
Visitation 1.9%
WIS 1.5%
GtownPrep 1.2%
Gonzaga 1.1%
Wash-Lee 1.1%
Yorktown 0.8%
Stone Ridge 0.7%
St. John's 0.6%
Wilson 0.3%
Latin 0.2%

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In conclusion, the class of 2018 finalists were 90% private school students (33/36).

For 2019 private students were were 81% (45/55).

Among the publics, Wilson didn't have any semi-finalists this year; BASIS had 2; SWW had 7 and 1 student is homeschooled.

…. and Banneker is a no-show.

[Anonymous]

SWW having 7 is incredibly impressive. It makes me think the school has its shit together.

Nah, it's the Type A parents who have their stuff together and make sure their kids are prepped.

Make no mistake, the kind of kids who attend SWW in 2018 are the offspring of very-high-education families who just don't have the HHI to do Sidwell or GDS x 3 kids. Policy wonks' kids, journalists' kids, non-profit lawyers' kids, gov't lawyers' kids. Capitol Hill public school kids and Highly Regarded Charter (elementary) School kids.

These kinds of kids increasingly attend public school rather than private as they would have in the past. Over the past 15 years, real estate has skyrocketed and shut down any notion of going to a private high school for these sorts of families. In 1985, a 2-journalist family could afford both a house on the Hill AND tuition at Sidwell for 2 or 3 kids. Not anymore, when the house cost $1.6 million and Sidwell is $45,000 per kid.

So, enter the SWW option.

[Anonymous]

I'm not convinced about the prep. The fact is, the PSAT isn't a terribly difficult test, at least not for bright kids who've been reading a lot on their own from a young age. As with the SAT, the math is pretty basic - not even including trig.

I was a NM semi-finalist as in HS coming from a public school in the bottom third in my state, without much in the way of prep. My parents, grown-up 60s hippies, were teachers. They disliked TV and we all read a great deal.

[Anonymous]

Why so few from Maret? I thought they were extremely selective. While it’s not a 1:1 I would have expected more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why so few from Maret? I thought they were extremely selective. While it’s not a 1:1 I would have expected more.

That’s a question for the private school board.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm not convinced about the prep. The fact is, the PSAT isn't a terribly difficult test, at least not for bright kids who've been reading a lot on their own from a young age. As with the SAT, the math is pretty basic - not even including trig.

I was a NM semi-finalist as in HS coming from a public school in the bottom third in my state, without much in the way of prep. My parents, grown-up 60s hippies, were teachers. They disliked TV and we all read a great deal.

The PSAT has been hanged to align with th redesigned SAT - so while the verbal portions still count for 2/3 of the score things like vocabulary are not emphasized the way it was back in the day.

The new SAT/PSAT is more aligned with Common Core and current learning standards.

[Anonymous]

^^ changed not 'hanged'

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not convinced about the prep. The fact is, the PSAT isn't a terribly difficult test, at least not for bright kids who've been reading a lot on their own from a young age. As with the SAT, the math is pretty basic - not even including trig.

I was a NM semi-finalist as in HS coming from a public school in the bottom third in my state, without much in the way of prep. My parents, grown-up 60s hippies, were teachers. They disliked TV and we all read a great deal.

The PSAT has been hanged to align with th redesigned SAT - so while the verbal portions still count for 2/3 of the score things like vocabulary are not emphasized the way it was back in the day.

The new SAT/PSAT is more aligned with Common Core and current learning standards.

Still not a terribly difficult test. OK, so much of the math is of the "applied variant" these days, requiring analysis of the sort of charts and graphs you find in media reports on the economy. Lack of prep for the actual test sounds like an excuse, not the crux of the problem undergirding the modest showing by DCPS and DCPCS in the PSAT NMS race year after year. Just one finalist from Wilson this year is regrettable.

[Anonymous]

There were ZERO finalists from Wilson this year. The only public school finalists were from BASIS DC (2) and SWW (7).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not convinced about the prep. The fact is, the PSAT isn't a terribly difficult test, at least not for bright kids who've been reading a lot on their own from a young age. As with the SAT, the math is pretty basic - not even including trig.

I was a NM semi-finalist as in HS coming from a public school in the bottom third in my state, without much in the way of prep. My parents, grown-up 60s hippies, were teachers. They disliked TV and we all read a great deal.

The PSAT has been hanged to align with th redesigned SAT - so while the verbal portions still count for 2/3 of the score things like vocabulary are not emphasized the way it was back in the day.

The new SAT/PSAT is more aligned with Common Core and current learning standards.

Still not a terribly difficult test. OK, so much of the math is of the "applied variant" these days, requiring analysis of the sort of charts and graphs you find in media reports on the economy. Lack of prep for the actual test sounds like an excuse, not the crux of the problem undergirding the modest showing by DCPS and DCPCS in the PSAT NMS race year after year. Just one finalist from Wilson this year is regrettable.

Were you in DC or NJ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Based on data I've been able to collect for a number of DC area schools over the last 6 years, here is the average percentage of each school's graduating class that has qualifed as National Merit Semifinalists. Note that for some non-DC schools, I couldn't find a complete 6 years of data.

Sidwell 10.4%
St. Albans 7.7%
GDS 5.7%
NCS 4.4%
Holton 3.6%
Heights 3.2%
St. Anselm's 3.2%
Potomac 2.5%
Maret 2.5%
Walls 2.4%
McLean 2.4%
Visitation 1.9%
WIS 1.5%
GtownPrep 1.2%
Gonzaga 1.1%
Wash-Lee 1.1%
Yorktown 0.8%
Stone Ridge 0.7%
St. John's 0.6%
Wilson 0.3%
Latin 0.2%

How many of the kids on that list live in the Wilson boundary, I wonder?

[Anonymous]

Thanks for posting the 2019 list. People should refrain from judging a school’s merit based on those scores. While it’s certainly a “nice to have” honor for the students, qualifiers tend to be those whose parents seek (and can pay for) intensive test prep from an earlier age than most public school parents are even aware that their kids will *take* the PSAT again. My own child, from a public high school not on this list, didn’t do particularly well on the PSAT because we didn’t know that early test prep can boost some kids’ scores into this range. After just a little test prep, his SAT scores are close to perfect, so maybe if he went to a school that told us ANYTHING AT ALL about this stuff (no, I’m not this bitter all the time), we would have considered starting early enough for the PSAT, and hey, maybe our school would be on this list with Sidwell, etc. Honestly, our school can’t even hold a regular school-day SAT without being 100 chairs short, starting two hours late, etc. it would be a miracle if any of our kids, smart as many are, made this list.


So much resentment, bitterness and envy....Basically because you do not care or educate yourself about what going on in your school everybody else is wrong. My child did not prepared or got tutors to do the PSAT and he is in the semifinalist list. I am very proud of him!