Doing well on the PSAT may qualify you for one of the available PSAT Scholarships or recognition programs
NMSQT – National Merit Scholarship Corporation
The National Merit Scholarship Corporation cosponsors the PSAT. As such, it receives all student PSAT scores. Students scoring in the very top of the testing class are eligible to participate in the NMSQT selection. Scores are based on the overall testing score, the Selection Index score, which is the total of the critical reading, mathematics, and writing skills scores on the PSAT/NMSQT.
Each year approximately 1.5 million students take the PSAT. Of those, the top 50,000 will go on to the next level of qualification. From that list, 15,000 finalists are chosen over the next several months.
Although many sophomores students take the PSAT, only juniors are eligible to receive National Merit Scholarships. If you have done well on the PSAT as a sophomore and think you may qualify for the National Merit Scholarship, it is worth the extra time and effort involved to raise your scores even further by practicing individually or with a test prep program, such as The Right Path, to try for this scholarship.
Receiving a National Merit Scholarship is not only valuable financially, it is a very prestigious award which will definitely stand out on your college applications.
For more information about NMSC, visit www.nationalmerit.org.
If you do not want your scores and students information sent to other scholarship agencies, contact the College Board directly.