It’s simply not an environment that places as much of an emphasis on academic achievement as many other public and private schools in the area.

Anonymous wrote:The cutoff for semifinalist is different for each state. DC is hurt because the state of a student is based on where that student goes to school, not where he lives. Many of the top private schools have many students from MD and VA, and typically 90% or so of the semifinalists come from private schools.

DC has the highest cutoff in the nation to be a semifinalist. It also has the lowest SAT scores in the nation.

Yes.

For the class of 2018, 33 of 36 NMSF were from private schools; for the class of 2019, 45 of 55 were from private school.

Of the 10 non-private school students for 2019, 7 attend a selective enrollment high school, 2 attend a public charter school and 1 is home schooled.

Anonymous wrote:I was a semifinalist because I'm good at tests.

But that was 2 decades ago. Things are different now. I wouldn't expect to be a semifinalist without prepping. There are too many kids who have their eyes on the prize and will work their fingers to the bone to try and get it.

So why does no one at Wilson have their eye on the prize?

The cutoff for semifinalist is different for each state. DC is hurt because the state of a student is based on where that student goes to school, not where he lives. Many of the top private schools have many students from MD and VA, and typically 90% or so of the semifinalists come from private schools.

DC has the highest cutoff in the nation to be a semifinalist. It also has the lowest SAT scores in the nation.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I looked at the past 3 years and they've had 1 student qualify over the past 3 school years total.
Why aren't more qualifying?

I'm not sure but when I was in school you definitely needed to take a test prep course to score well. My high school offered them after school.

This. Tutoring companies on thriving on private one on one lessons. Since they hare charging a minimum of $200 per lesson, they have to deliver. Obviously the parents are not going to talk about it. We know 2 bright juniors who received PSAT tutoring for over a year and are now receiving ACT tutoring. Money makes the world go round and roung.

I was a semifinalist and never did a minute of test prep. Two of my kids were Presidential Scholar nominees (top 20 scores in each state) and never did a minute of test prep. Some kids are just good at taking tests.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My parent was a semifinalist. Son of a working class fireman. Attended not-so-great public schools. No prepping or tutoring. Just smart. YMMV

-- smart at taking tests like this. And that's not the kind of smart that every kid has even when they can handle the work.

+1 I was a semifinalist because I was awesome at taking tests. I can take a multiple choice test on a subject I know little to nothing about and pass. I did great on the PSAT, SAT, GRE with no prep. If a class had multiple choice tests I knew I would excel. My sister is much, much smarter than me but is a terrible test taker. She was not a semifinalist. National Merit is, like so many other evaluations, is a test of how well you take tests.

I had test prep but also was good at taking tests (and was a semifinalist). To this day I wish I could succeed in life by taking multiple choice tests. Alas, I haven't been asked to do so in any of my jobs

I was a semifinalist because I'm good at tests.

But that was 2 decades ago. Things are different now. I wouldn't expect to be a semifinalist without prepping. There are too many kids who have their eyes on the prize and will work their fingers to the bone to try and get it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My parent was a semifinalist. Son of a working class fireman. Attended not-so-great public schools. No prepping or tutoring. Just smart. YMMV

-- smart at taking tests like this. And that's not the kind of smart that every kid has even when they can handle the work.

+1 I was a semifinalist because I was awesome at taking tests. I can take a multiple choice test on a subject I know little to nothing about and pass. I did great on the PSAT, SAT, GRE with no prep. If a class had multiple choice tests I knew I would excel. My sister is much, much smarter than me but is a terrible test taker. She was not a semifinalist. National Merit is, like so many other evaluations, is a test of how well you take tests.

Anonymous wrote:My parent was a semifinalist. Son of a working class fireman. Attended not-so-great public schools. No prepping or tutoring. Just smart. YMMV

-- smart at taking tests like this. And that's not the kind of smart that every kid has even when they can handle the work.

My parent was a semifinalist. Son of a working class fireman. Attended not-so-great public schools. No prepping or tutoring. Just smart. YMMV

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I looked at the past 3 years and they've had 1 student qualify over the past 3 school years total.
Why aren't more qualifying?

I'm not sure but when I was in school you definitely needed to take a test prep course to score well. My high school offered them after school.

This. Tutoring companies on thriving on private one on one lessons. Since they hare charging a minimum of $200 per lesson, they have to deliver. Obviously the parents are not going to talk about it. We know 2 bright juniors who received PSAT tutoring for over a year and are now receiving ACT tutoring. Money makes the world go round and roung.

You can do just as well by taking the free online practice exams - for PSAT, SAT. https://www.khanacademy.org/sat

ACT practice exams are all over the internet too. No need to pay, just put in the time.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I looked at the past 3 years and they've had 1 student qualify over the past 3 school years total.
Why aren't more qualifying?

I'm not sure but when I was in school you definitely needed to take a test prep course to score well. My high school offered them after school.

This. Tutoring companies on thriving on private one on one lessons. Since they hare charging a minimum of $200 per lesson, they have to deliver. Obviously the parents are not going to talk about it. We know 2 bright juniors who received PSAT tutoring for over a year and are now receiving ACT tutoring. Money makes the world go round and roung.

Anonymous wrote:I looked at the past 3 years and they've had 1 student qualify over the past 3 school years total.
Why aren't more qualifying?

I'm not sure but when I was in school you definitely needed to take a test prep course to score well. My high school offered them after school.

Because none of their 11th-grade students scored high enough on the PSAT to make the cut?

I know at least 2 of the SWW semifinalists live IB for Wilson; at least 1 of the BASIS semifinalists lives IB for Wilson. Surely some of the 45 private school semifinalists live IB for Wilson.

Students who are really bright, test well and come from upper middle-class homes have many school options and may decline to attend their IB comprehensive high school.

I looked at the past 3 years and they've had 1 student qualify over the past 3 school years total.
Why aren't more qualifying?