Students in high schools all over the United States take the PSAT/NMSQT [National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test] in their junior year. Of the students who take it, one percent qualify to be in the pool of semi-finalists.

“The semi-finalists are chosen based on their PSAT score and once they are chosen, they can then put in an application for a chance to become a national finalist,” said counselor Ann Nebolon.

Seniors Samuel Houskeeper, Eileen An and Samuel Young were part of that percentage, and were placed as semi-finalists. If they are chosen as national finalists, they will be awarded 2500 dollars to their college of choice. 

The test is said to be less difficult than the actual SAT. “It wasn’t as hard as the SAT because it was so much shorter, but I thought there were a few challenging questions,” said Houskeeper.

The three students that placed were surprised they qualified. “I was surprised that the top scores weren’t all in the 230’s,” said An. The scores that qualify students to be semi-finalists vary every year depending on the highest scores. Houskeeper added, “I’m sure I was a bit lucky.”