Did you take the PSAT?

[Vortex22]

Originally posted by: DaiShan
I took it twice, once in sophmore year, once junior year, what you are forgetting is it is the PSAT/NMSQT national merit scholarship qualifying test, you get in on that and colleges will find you money to go there

Thats why I took it in both Sophmore and Junior years as well... I did better on the SAT though.

 

[DanFungus]

took it last year, took PLAN (practive ACT) last year, took Kaplan, took SAT last saturday, taking PSAT *now*....bye! I'm leaving now

 

[DaiShan]

Originally posted by: Vortex22

Originally posted by: DaiShan
I took it twice, once in sophmore year, once junior year, what you are forgetting is it is the PSAT/NMSQT national merit scholarship qualifying test, you get in on that and colleges will find you money to go there

Thats why I took it in both Sophmore and Junior years as well... I did better on the SAT though.

So did I, my college counselor said he normally sees about 50 points higher from the psat to sat the first time, and another 75 point jump after that, I was sick when I took the SAT, so I only increased like 10 points, just took it again last sat, hopefully did better this time.

 

[Sciolist]

Took it once, aced it, ended up getting greatly rewarded with multiple scholarships. (Of course, great H.S. GPA/class ranking, great SAT scores, multiple extracurriculars and minority status in my chosen major helped too.)

 

[TuxDave]

I took it once and got a 1410. Then I found out that for the merit scholarship, it's Verbalx2 + Math. And seeing how my score was 800 math and 610 verbal it was pretty pointless for me. =P

 

[tweakmm]

I've taken it 3 times(Freshman, Sophmore and Junior year), and your Junior year is the most important year to take it as it is the only time where your scores will qualify you for scholorship competitions

 

[WinkOsmosis]

Originally posted by: dfi
If you do poorly on the PSAT, then you might just get sad. And if you do well, then you'll get cocky. And then you'll play minesweeper (hp calculator owners know what I'm talking about) during every section of the actual SAT, not bother to double check your answers, and score lower than you did on the PSAT. Then you'll be sad. It's a lose/lose situation if you take the PSAT. But just take it anyways cuz it'll get your mom off your back.

I'm a national merit scholar finalist. What does that get me? Absolutely nothing. Well, no wait, I got a stuffed school mascot at a school rally once. Wow!

dfi

Universities give scholarships for it. The National Merit scholarship itself is only like $200 though. I got an assload of money from UTexas, enough to pay rent etc.

 

[johnjohn320]

I was unaware of the National Merit thing, but so was my mother. When I took it sophomore year, they said it was just for practice, never mentioned anything about that being different junior year.

Anyway, it's too late as we speak. I started this thread the night before the test (which was this morning), when my mom comes down at like 11:30 and says "maybe we should have had you take it after all." I originally didn't take it on her recommendation as it is...sheesh mom make up your mind. Now I wish I had, but oh well. Guess that's that.

 

[dfi]

Originally posted by: Jellomancer

Originally posted by: dfi
If you do poorly on the PSAT, then you might just get sad. And if you do well, then you'll get cocky. And then you'll play minesweeper (hp calculator owners know what I'm talking about) during every section of the actual SAT, not bother to double check your answers, and score lower than you did on the PSAT. Then you'll be sad. It's a lose/lose situation if you take the PSAT. But just take it anyways cuz it'll get your mom off your back.

I'm a national merit scholar finalist. What does that get me? Absolutely nothing. Well, no wait, I got a stuffed school mascot at a school rally once. Wow!

dfi

Universities give scholarships for it. The National Merit scholarship itself is only like $200 though. I got an assload of money from UTexas, enough to pay rent etc.

Actually, come to think of it, I think I did get 1-2 thousand dollars in scholarships my first year of college. Ok, so DO take the PSAT.

Well, nm, it's too late now!

dfi

 

[erub]

Just to make you feel worse about not taking it, Texas A&M is paying me $2300 for each semester this year, and $1300 for each semester for my next 3 years because of this test (I am still elgible to get another $1000 for each of those semesters as well)..without it (and becoming a National Merit Finalist) I wouldnt have qualified for their scholarships.

 

[SWirth86]

I did......just this morning. Thought the math was pretty easy, and verbal was ok.
Got a 182 on the National Merit last year (sophmore), hope I got 200+ this year. Last year the cut off was about 212...

Not really a waste of time....took about 3 hours, only costs 13 bucks, and potentially lots of scholarship money.

 

[LongCoolMother]

i also just got back 2 hours ago from school taking the PSAT. im going to take it 3 times. im a freshman and i took it today, going to again in soph and junior. whats wrong with practice? its only like $5 this year too!

 

[Spamela]

once, in 1971. did pretty well, too.

 

[stev0]

Originally posted by: rbloedow
Nope, it's a waste of money

 

[wiredspider]

How does one find the cut off for national merit? I only got something like a 150 last time .