DC NMSFs 2025

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wonder if more schools will start offering summer PSAT prep programs. Seems like Banneker, McKinley Tech, BASIS, Latin, DCI, Truth, etc. would have a group of students who, with more prep, could have a shot at NMSF. It would be a good investment for the schools in that it could get them more publicity and applicants...a virtuous cycle.

Getting NMSF in DC (with the highest cut-off in the nation) means performing at the level of a 1590-1600 SAT.

If you can get a bunch of kids at these DC schools to that level with "more prep" then you will accomplish what educators in America have never been able to do and you will make the national news.

If they miss the goal, they can still get uncf and other scholarships. And they will improve their sat scores. I am just surprised more schools don't make the investment.

I agree. My urban magnet high school integrated SAT prep into the curriculum and within a couple of years had the most NMSF ever in our state. The record has still not been broken. I got one of those scholarships and while it only amounted to 2K, that's not nothing.

There is really no downside doing PSAT/SAT prep in school. Maybe a couple more kids will be bumped up into the NMSF zone, and many more will be brought up to competitive levels for their SAT scores and college apps (now that the test is mostly back).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wonder if more schools will start offering summer PSAT prep programs. Seems like Banneker, McKinley Tech, BASIS, Latin, DCI, Truth, etc. would have a group of students who, with more prep, could have a shot at NMSF. It would be a good investment for the schools in that it could get them more publicity and applicants...a virtuous cycle.

Getting NMSF in DC (with the highest cut-off in the nation) means performing at the level of a 1590-1600 SAT.

If you can get a bunch of kids at these DC schools to that level with "more prep" then you will accomplish what educators in America have never been able to do and you will make the national news.

Exactly.

And this whole JR conversation is crazy. At minimum, it is the perspective of a couple of people who clearly are still burned up about covid policies AND have a very narrow view of the population of successful students at JR.

First, the idea that the 15 or whatever kids in the eighth grade Algebra 2 class are all of the “academic superstars” is ridiculous, for a million reasons, not least of which is that many kids who could go the hyper-accelerated math route choose not to. Many parents (me, I’m one of these parents) don’t think it’s the best way to do math instruction and that Calc BC in 11th grade is plenty accelerated.

Second, the fact that only one JR kid happened to score an essentially perfect PSAT score on a single test given on a single day is not an indictment of the rest of the class. Get a grip, people. If it had been three kids (which is what I think it was last year), would that have mattered materially? If a bunch of kids missed the cut off by one point, does that matter?

This is like yelling into the wind, but it’s crazy that a couple of people with tired, old bones to pick and very narrow perspectives are taken as authorities on the quality of JR’s student body.

The truth is the quality of JR’s body has absolutely gone down hill if you are talking about high performing kids. The trend has been lots more of these families are not tracking to JR with the advent of honors for all and dumbing down even more the curriculum.

Common knowledge and you seem to be in complete denial of it.

+1. The evidence is strong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wonder if more schools will start offering summer PSAT prep programs. Seems like Banneker, McKinley Tech, BASIS, Latin, DCI, Truth, etc. would have a group of students who, with more prep, could have a shot at NMSF. It would be a good investment for the schools in that it could get them more publicity and applicants...a virtuous cycle.

Getting NMSF in DC (with the highest cut-off in the nation) means performing at the level of a 1590-1600 SAT.

If you can get a bunch of kids at these DC schools to that level with "more prep" then you will accomplish what educators in America have never been able to do and you will make the national news.

In any case, they will not allow a cut score that gives any state or territory significantly more than their proportion of award slots. The awards are given based on each state's proportion of graduating seniors in the country. Territories and DC are too small for that to be fair (DC would only get 15 NMSF that way), so for most locations the Commended score is used; but DC has way too many Commended qualifiers, so for DC they use the top state score so that DC is limited to between 30 and 50 NMSF each year. No matter how much prep all the kids do, only this number of kids will be NMSF. If too many make it at a certain score, they change the cut score to get back to the same number of awards. That's how it works.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know nothing about how this works. Is it just PSAT?

It was the first time the PSAT (when an 11th grader takes it is the NMSQT) was digital. I'm sure that threw some kids for a loop. The SAT is what matters, and at least from my kid, whose PSAT was abysmal, after practicing with the format a bit more, the SAT was a much stronger score than expected; one and done. And given the averages for the school that his score report listed, it was the same for other kids too. I think a lot of kids didn't expect the new format to make a difference, but seems like maybe it did. I expect that was even more of an issue at schools that do not use computers in class or for tests at all. But I'm sure the kids will or did adjust in time for the SAT.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know nothing about how this works. Is it just PSAT?

It was the first time the PSAT (when an 11th grader takes it is the NMSQT) was digital. I'm sure that threw some kids for a loop. The SAT is what matters, and at least from my kid, whose PSAT was abysmal, after practicing with the format a bit more, the SAT was a much stronger score than expected; one and done. And given the averages for the school that his score report listed, it was the same for other kids too. I think a lot of kids didn't expect the new format to make a difference, but seems like maybe it did. I expect that was even more of an issue at schools that do not use computers in class or for tests at all. But I'm sure the kids will or did adjust in time for the SAT.

Maybe but kids are on their devices all the time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know nothing about how this works. Is it just PSAT?

Yes. But it gets you a lot of scholarship offers.

NMSF is a semi-big deal until the day you take the SATs. After that, no one gives a shit how you did on the PSAT. Signed, a NMSF from a long time ago.

I hope you're right. My kid got a high score on PSAT but didn't get NMSF because her math score was significantly higher than her verbal. And that kind of stinks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know nothing about how this works. Is it just PSAT?

Yes. But it gets you a lot of scholarship offers.

NMSF is a semi-big deal until the day you take the SATs. After that, no one gives a shit how you did on the PSAT. Signed, a NMSF from a long time ago.

Colleges care.

+1. NMF and HYP grad

Not necessarily. NM non-finalist and HYP grad

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know nothing about how this works. Is it just PSAT?

It was the first time the PSAT (when an 11th grader takes it is the NMSQT) was digital. I'm sure that threw some kids for a loop. The SAT is what matters, and at least from my kid, whose PSAT was abysmal, after practicing with the format a bit more, the SAT was a much stronger score than expected; one and done. And given the averages for the school that his score report listed, it was the same for other kids too. I think a lot of kids didn't expect the new format to make a difference, but seems like maybe it did. I expect that was even more of an issue at schools that do not use computers in class or for tests at all. But I'm sure the kids will or did adjust in time for the SAT.

Maybe but kids are on their devices all the time.

Swiping through photos on your phone is not the same as adaptive test taking on a computer you never used before.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wonder if more schools will start offering summer PSAT prep programs. Seems like Banneker, McKinley Tech, BASIS, Latin, DCI, Truth, etc. would have a group of students who, with more prep, could have a shot at NMSF. It would be a good investment for the schools in that it could get them more publicity and applicants...a virtuous cycle.

Getting NMSF in DC (with the highest cut-off in the nation) means performing at the level of a 1590-1600 SAT.

If you can get a bunch of kids at these DC schools to that level with "more prep" then you will accomplish what educators in America have never been able to do and you will make the national news.

If they miss the goal, they can still get uncf and other scholarships. And they will improve their sat scores. I am just surprised more schools don't make the investment.

I agree. My urban magnet high school integrated SAT prep into the curriculum and within a couple of years had the most NMSF ever in our state. The record has still not been broken. I got one of those scholarships and while it only amounted to 2K, that's not nothing.

That is a huge waste of class time for one practice test for which there are a finite number of awards per state.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know nothing about how this works. Is it just PSAT?

It was the first time the PSAT (when an 11th grader takes it is the NMSQT) was digital. I'm sure that threw some kids for a loop. The SAT is what matters, and at least from my kid, whose PSAT was abysmal, after practicing with the format a bit more, the SAT was a much stronger score than expected; one and done. And given the averages for the school that his score report listed, it was the same for other kids too. I think a lot of kids didn't expect the new format to make a difference, but seems like maybe it did. I expect that was even more of an issue at schools that do not use computers in class or for tests at all. But I'm sure the kids will or did adjust in time for the SAT.

Maybe but kids are on their devices all the time.

Swiping through photos on your phone is not the same as adaptive test taking on a computer you never used before.

Hate to tell you this but kids are spending their spare time practicing filling in bubbles with a pen either.

[Anonymous]

Getting close to a perfect score on the PSAT has nothing to do with filling in bubbles correctly or even being able to take a digital test.

It's about mastery of Algebra 1 and 2, geometry, grammar, vocabulary, and reading for content.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Getting close to a perfect score on the PSAT has nothing to do with filling in bubbles correctly or even being able to take a digital test.

It's about mastery of Algebra 1 and 2, geometry, grammar, vocabulary, and reading for content.

This. At that level, the logistics are trivial. It's about problem solving. I'm a former Kaplan teacher (and former NMSF).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Getting close to a perfect score on the PSAT has nothing to do with filling in bubbles correctly or even being able to take a digital test.

It's about mastery of Algebra 1 and 2, geometry, grammar, vocabulary, and reading for content.

This. At that level, the logistics are trivial. It's about problem solving. I'm a former Kaplan teacher (and former NMSF).

Thank you. And both PSAT and SAT scores are the only reliable test scores we can use to compare high school performance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Getting close to a perfect score on the PSAT has nothing to do with filling in bubbles correctly or even being able to take a digital test.

It's about mastery of Algebra 1 and 2, geometry, grammar, vocabulary, and reading for content.

This. At that level, the logistics are trivial. It's about problem solving. I'm a former Kaplan teacher (and former NMSF).

Thank you. And both PSAT and SAT scores are the only reliable test scores we can use to compare high school performance.

Meh, SAT is more important. Not all kids prep for PSAT.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know nothing about how this works. Is it just PSAT?

It was the first time the PSAT (when an 11th grader takes it is the NMSQT) was digital. I'm sure that threw some kids for a loop. The SAT is what matters, and at least from my kid, whose PSAT was abysmal, after practicing with the format a bit more, the SAT was a much stronger score than expected; one and done. And given the averages for the school that his score report listed, it was the same for other kids too. I think a lot of kids didn't expect the new format to make a difference, but seems like maybe it did. I expect that was even more of an issue at schools that do not use computers in class or for tests at all. But I'm sure the kids will or did adjust in time for the SAT.

Maybe but kids are on their devices all the time.

Swiping through photos on your phone is not the same as adaptive test taking on a computer you never used before.

Hate to tell you this but kids are spending their spare time practicing filling in bubbles with a pen either.

Yeah, but still. It was the first time the test was adaptive, etc.