Reply to National Merit Semifinalist 2018

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Holy crap!  Back in fall 1991, the qualifying PSAT score for MD was 204.  Makes you wonder how much of this is (1) the test getting easier vs. (2) kids becoming better coached for it.[/quote]

It doesn't really matter - the qualifying score is set so that it captures the top 1/2% of test takers in each state. [/quote]

Is this true?  That seems like a really small cohort to me.  I received a national merit scholarship 30 years ago ($2000 per year, IIRC), but so did my brother, and his scores were substantially better than mine.  I would have guessed that it was top 5% or so.  [/quote]

Top 5% is nothing anymore, you have to be in the top 0.5% of higher even. That's not a good use of someone's time. My DD got a 98 percentile without  a prep class or paying for pricey tutoring . She spent her summer working a meaningful job instead of taking an intense summer prep class or prepping herself which was a much better idea for her future. And now she's just taking the ACT, no SAT. I'm okay with that.

The PSAT seems less honorable now and more about adding to the standardized testing money machine. Our friend's kid was one of the smartest kids around and was accepted at all ivies and we never heard anything about nms. I'm sure he got one - right? - but it's not a big deal anymore. They should find a way to make it more of a meaningful honor and less of [b]a rich people prep class kind of thing, though [/b]maybe that's impossible .[/quote]

I'm sure that the 145 semifinalists at TJ all took a rich kids prep class  to et the honor. You sound very bitter. How about recognizing there may be a lot of very bright kids who are being recognized?[/quote]

lol are you kidding me half the kids at TJ have been prepping since elementary school if not earlier lol.  You realize they have camps/classes for TJ prepping and hundreds of kids go.[/quote]

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