About what score do u need to become a national achievement scholar?



Answers:
Since the National Merit Scholars are determined through the top percentage, the actual score varies from year to year.

Last year ( school year of 05-06) the lowest finalist was i believe 218 out of a max of 240. However, there are also some students who were close to the scores so they receive a "commended" rank.
If you're talking about the national merit scholar, it's like the top .5% or something. Yeah, as in the top 99.5% pretty much.
National Merit status is done on a state level, so what score is required for Scholar status depends on your state. If you are in a state where the schools are good, say, Massachusetts or Jersey, then the score you need is pretty high, but if you are in Louisiana then you dont need as high a score. The exact scores for each state can be found on line if you google for them

About 1.4 million kids are tested for National Merit scores each year (roughly the top 1/3rd of USA HS students). About 17,000 receive National Merit Scholar status. Since there are over 35,000 secondary schools in the USA that means that half the high schools in America do not have even a single NM Scholar in a given year.
In addition to doing well on the PSAT, you must also do well on the SAT and get good recommendations. The average cut-off for semifinalist is around 215. but here's what happened last year, find your state and that'll give you a good indicator of whether or not you have a chance:

The table below shows minimums for the 2007 National Merit Program (2005 PSAT) in blue, based on posts to this thread between 8/24/06 and 9/21/06. It includes historical minimums from a variety of sources, which are mostly listed in post #354. State/regions for which 2007 data are not shown did not receive adequate posts to comment on their minimum.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . '06->'07
. . . '99 .'01 .'04 .'05 .'06 . .2007 . . . change . . . . . post #s .
Commended 201 202 202 . . 203 . . . +1
AL. 211 208 208 210 212 . . 212 . . . no change . . . 231, 263, 286, 336
AK. 214 211 210 211 212
AZ. 212 210 212 211 212 . . 214 . . . +2 . . . . . . . . 321
AR. 202 201 201 202 206 . . 206 . . . no change . . . 319, 326
CA. 215 215 216 216 217 . . 219 . . . +2 . . . . . . . . 347X,376,380,398,419X,421X,425...
CO. 210 211 211 213 214 .<=217 . . . ? . . . . . . . . . 569
CT. 219 218 219 220 220 . . 221 . . . +1 . . . . . . . . .491, 561
DE. 216 216 217 220 219 .<=219 . . . ? . . . . . . . . . .632
FL. 213 213 214 214 215 . . 215 . . . .no change . . . .274, 277, 324, 637
GA. 211 213 214 217 218 . . 218 . . . .no change. . . .370X, 497
HI. 215 218 214 216 214 . . 218 . . . .+4 (-2 last yr) .271
ID. 203 206 204 208 207
IL. 213 213 214 216 216 . . .218 . . . +2 . . . . . . . . .309, 312, 445, 522
IN. 210 207 211 212 213
IA. 209 209 207 209 210
KS. 212 211 212 214 215 . . 213 . . . -2 . . . . . . . . . 368, 369, 372, 428
KY. 207 208 210 210 212 . . 212 . . . .no change . . . 438
LA. 207 208 209 209 211 . . 209 . . . -2 . . . . . . . . . 644
ME. 214 213 211 214 212
MD. 220 220 222 222 222 . . 223 . . . +1 . . . . . . . . .403, 418, 420, 423, 510
MA. 222 221 222 222 222 . . 224 . . . +2 . . . . . . . . .444
MI. 209 209 209 210 211 . . .211 . . . no change . . . 411X, 473, 475. 476, 480, 482
MN. 214 211 212 215 213 214-15 . . .+1? . . . . . . . . 488
MS. 201 200 200 203 204 . . 204. . . . no change . . .375
MO. 211 210 212 213 213 . . 214 . . . +1 . . . . . . . . .234
MN. 206 204 206 207 211
NB. 208 205 205 208 208
NV. 203 204 204 207 205 208-14 . . . +? . . . . . . . . 373, 489
NH. 213 214 213 215 217 .<=216 . . . -1? . . . . . . . .609
NJ. 220 219 221 221 222 . . .223 . . . +1 . . . . . . . . 485, 514, 527
NM. 207 209 208 209 209
NY. 217 217 218 218 218 . . 221 . . . +3 . . . . . . . . .333, 338, 340, 344, 487, 601
NC. 212 212 213 216 216 . . 215 . . . -1 . . . . . . . . .506
ND. 205 204 202 204 208
OH. 211 211 212 214 215 . . 215 . . . no change . . . 247, 252
OK. 207 208 206 208 208 . . 207 . . . -1 . . . . . . . . .591, 592
OR. 211 213 213 214 214 . . 215 . . . +1 . . . . . . . . .583
PA. 214 213 215 215 215 . . 217 . . . .+2 . . . . . . . . 452, 477, 478, 509, 524
RI. 213 213 213 211 214
SC. 208 208 211 213 212 .<=214 . . . +2? . . . . . . . .272 says '06 was 215 vs. 212 elsewhere, 584
SD. 204 202 206 205 206
TN. 212 212 213 216 216 . . 217 . . . +1 . . . . . . . . .303, 405
TX. 214 214 216 216 217 . . 217 . . . .no change . . . 227, 386, 387, 399, 454, 616
UT. 203 204 200 204 207
VT. 212 213 213 213 218
VA. 218 218 219 219 220 . . 220 . . . .no change . . . 335
WA. 212 213 214 216 216 . . 219 . . . +3 . . . . . . . . .572, 574, 615
WV. 203 202 201 202 206
WI. 210 208 209 211 211 . . 211 . . . .no change . . . 610
WY. 204 201 200 203 204
DC. 222 221 222 222 222
T&C 201 . ? . 200 202 204 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . US Terr'ys and Commwlths
out 222 . ? . 222 222 222 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .schools outside the US
NE/MidAtl boarding schools . 225 . . . ? . . . . . . . . . .621
. . . '99 .'01 .'04 .'05 .'06 . .2007 . . . change . . . . . post #s .

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