The PSAT is mainly intended for sophomores and juniors, however, this year Cathedral allowed the chance for freshmen to take the assessment. Students are given this assessment as an opportunity to qualify for National Merit Scholarships which are implied towards college.
Taking the PSAT is crucial for a variety of different reasons. As Mr. Blondi, Vice Principal of Academic Support says, “It serves as Good practice for the SAT. Students are able to see the format and view similar questions. Students can see what they need to improve on and study, especially those juniors who will be taking the SAT in the spring. Depending on the scores, the school can see what classes each student needs to take to reach the graduation plan they intend on completing.”
The scores on the PSAT can be alarming and influential to some students, if students did not receive a satisfying score it can serve as a reminder to sharpen many skills in the certain section they weren’t content with.
Depending on each student and their personal scores, the PSAT can help provide access to career planning mechanisms. Each student can have some insight on their readiness for college level work and classes. Understanding personal weaknesses and strengths can help students target certain areas in a struggling subject, making room for improvement.
Only juniors taking the PSAT can qualify for the NMSQT, National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. In order to receive this scholarship, juniors must have gotten a very high score and met the state cutoff. The cutoff may change and vary every year, however, if the score meets the cutoff, the student is named a semifinalist and is able to exceed in the next step for the qualification.
Once a student has been named a semifinalist, they can then proceed to applying and submitting to scholarship applications. Information required when applying must at least include a recommendation letter from the student’s school, academic records, listing of extracurricular activities and an essay.
After submitting this application, the student is required to take the SAT in order to prove that the scores from the PSAT are consistent with the modified and up to date SAT scores. This is crucial in order to confirm previous performance in the PSAT/NMSQT, the scores from the SAT are then taken and used as validation.
Semifinalists are advanced to Finalists built upon ones applications and SAT scores. Upon the completion of the process, finalists are notified in February of their senior year whether they have received a Merit Scholarship Award. National Merit Scholarships are typically awarded with a one-time payment of $2,500 to eligible students.
