Announcing National Merit Semi-Finalists

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is it true the test was “easier?”

it doesn't matter, because they will just basically take the top 1%.

[Anonymous]

As always, Holton is the winner….

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This counts for nothing btw

False. Plenty of huge scholarships for NMSFs and NMFs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Wouldn’t private schools want the information on social media so it’s available to prospective families applying this year?

Why?

Maybe some families would infer that the schools with semifinalists have more rigorous curricula?

What makes you think that would be a reasonable inference?

Doesn’t it make sense that these schools are at the top of the list given how rigorous they are?
Sidwell (11)
GDS (7)
STA (6)
NCS (3)

I'm a former NMSF who went to bad public schools and I tend to think the award is not that correlated to school (these kids would have been NMSFs anywhere). The list is interesting bc it indicates where these families like to go, and that probably correlates with rigor.

However Sidwell number is so good I wonder if Sidwell is actually doing something active that helps prepare kids to do their very best on the PSAT.

It’s not the schools, it’s the type of parents (in general) whose kids attend these schools. Most kids might start test prep after they get their PSAT result or after one shot at the SAT. But many kids at the schools at the top of these lists have parents who start them on test prep at the beginning of ninth grade. These are parents who are willing to seek out every small opportunity to have their kids distinguish themselves from the pack.

[Anonymous]

Exactly. When schools pick and choose from kids with wealthy parents who will hire tutors, private coaches and college admissions consultants for their 8th graders, these numbers are not surprising or particularly impressive. Why aren’t they higher?

[Anonymous]

This isn’t to diss kids with high scores on the PSAT. They are certainly smart! But they aren’t smarter/better prepared for college than kids with middling scores on the PSAT who go on later to attain a high score on the SAT during their junior year or fall of senior year. NMSF success just means that the students prepped earlier. It’s bizarre that there is even a metric to weigh the test scores of 10th graders by individual states let alone to award prizes and have schools publicizing the results. In what other realm do we lionize those who excel *in practice* thanks to extra/early tutoring?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This isn’t to diss kids with high scores on the PSAT. They are certainly smart! But they aren’t smarter/better prepared for college than kids with middling scores on the PSAT who go on later to attain a high score on the SAT during their junior year or fall of senior year. NMSF success just means that the students prepped earlier. It’s bizarre that there is even a metric to weigh the test scores of 10th graders by individual states let alone to award prizes and have schools publicizing the results. In what other realm do we lionize those who excel *in practice* thanks to extra/early tutoring?

Agree with this completely. I have 3 kids and one agreed to prep for the SAT before junior year. She has always been more amenable to parental suggestions. Mom: "hey you should go through these books and do the problems for an hour a day this summer." Her "ok, sure!". She rocked the PSAT and is a NMSF. The other wouldn't prep or engage with anything college related until much later in junior year. They did not do as well on the PSAT as they took it cold. However, eventually they too studied and all 3 of my kids ended up with the same SAT scores (1530+).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This isn’t to diss kids with high scores on the PSAT. They are certainly smart! But they aren’t smarter/better prepared for college than kids with middling scores on the PSAT who go on later to attain a high score on the SAT during their junior year or fall of senior year. NMSF success just means that the students prepped earlier. It’s bizarre that there is even a metric to weigh the test scores of 10th graders by individual states let alone to award prizes and have schools publicizing the results. In what other realm do we lionize those who excel *in practice* thanks to extra/early tutoring?

Agree that plenty of students don’t do as well on the PSAT as they do after prepping for the SAT. But my NMSF did zero prep for the PSAT so in that, you’re wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This isn’t to diss kids with high scores on the PSAT. They are certainly smart! But they aren’t smarter/better prepared for college than kids with middling scores on the PSAT who go on later to attain a high score on the SAT during their junior year or fall of senior year. NMSF success just means that the students prepped earlier. It’s bizarre that there is even a metric to weigh the test scores of 10th graders by individual states let alone to award prizes and have schools publicizing the results. In what other realm do we lionize those who excel *in practice* thanks to extra/early tutoring?

Agree that plenty of students don’t do as well on the PSAT as they do after prepping for the SAT. But my NMSF did zero prep for the PSAT so in that, you’re wrong.

Well of course there are kids who take the PSAT cold and become NMSF. But for every one of these there are many others who do 3 months of intensive prep the summer before junior year. There are literally hundreds of test-prep companies that offer tutoring packages for this.