When are NMSF announced?
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
Not true - DD got a perfect SAT score at 2nd try. 1560 1st try and 1600 second try and all she used was Khan Academy. It is an excellent prep site for SAT |
Anonymous
and if she had used Princeton or Kaplan she'd have surely gotten 1600 on the frist try,. |
Anonymous
The cut-off for NMSF was the same in VA as MD (222) this year. Only a few states (MA, NJ) and DC (whose cut-off rate is pegged to the highest cut-off rate for any state) had a higher cut-off number (223). |
Anonymous
or a 1700 or 1800. |
Anonymous
Ok - So all kids using Princeton and Kaplan are perfect scorers -- Good to know !!! |
Anonymous
At least a 1900 |
Anonymous
My question is: what caused it? Some tipping threshold? The old TJ was better able to raise test scores for kids on the bubble -- either through the osmosis of being surrounded by very smart, well-prepped kids or through its curriculum? Longer than normal/less effective online education during Covid shutdowns hit this class at a critical period, whereas the rest of Virginia either was closed for a shorter time or handled it better? Changes made by the College Board to the PSAT have flat-footed the local test prep agencies? It's worth pointing out that Loudoun's numbers collapsed as well: 82 announced in 2023, 47 in 2024. This, to me, suggests that whatever is happening is not just specific to TJ or even FCPS. |
Anonymous
One possibility you left out: modern educational trends hit northern Virginia well before they hit the rest of the state, if they even have. Those trends are being reversed now (see Lucy Caulkins falling out of favor), but have affected these learners. |
Anonymous
The Loudoun county numbers last year were a spike - it was 44 in 2022. FCPS, on the other hand, has had 250ish semifinaliats for years until this year. |
Anonymous
|
The fact remains that the NMSF number is relative to the .5% and total numbers are less important.
What is important to know is that for the class of 2024: 37% were NMSF for the class of 2025: 16% were NMSF The same .5% were selected as usual but TJ just had many less selected relative to their student population. |
Anonymous
Doubling in one year, with those numbers, seems even less probable than dropping by 50% the next, especially in context of the sudden large change in the next count over's scores. The cynical side of me is now considering the possibility that a test security breach has been plugged. |
Anonymous
I think it's safe to say a kid who struggled to raise their score from 1550-1600 using Khan would get there a lot more easily using one of these services and that was the PP's point. It's true that you get what you pay for even with SAT prep. Some just want to minimize the impact that wealth and privilege has on these outcomes by pretending Khan is comparable whien it isn't. |
Anonymous
Then pandemic had a big impact on these things and it may be a few more years until it's returned to normal. |
Anonymous
There is always going to be an advantage to wealth. More resources always helps in almost every theatre but test scores still measure actual ability, at least at the high end of the curve. If money provided an artificial boost to test scores then we would expect to see better college performance from poor kids with a 1550 than rich kids with a 1550 because the rich kid's score overstates their ability while the poor kid's score understates it. But we don't see this, they perform almost exactly the same. So whatever money is doing for these rich kids, it is improving them as students and not just improving their SAT score. https://opportunityinsights.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/SAT_ACT_on_Grades.pdf |
Anonymous
That's not how NMSF works. It's not a cutoff score in virginia, it's the top 0.5% of scores in virginia. NMSF are still the top 0.5% of the state. They didn't cut that in half. Fewer of the TJ students are in the top 0.5% of the state. That represents a real drop in the academic quality of the student body. |