“The SAT is a very vocabulary-tense test, so for almost a month prior to the test, I just studied words. I also took part in the SAT Blitz and did multiple practice tests.”
Those are the words of Taylor Johnson, one of four students who were recently recognized by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation for showing exemplary scores in the PSAT.
Taylor, along with fellow seniors Ian Dorsa, Stephanie Gilkey, and Mackenzie Walsh, were all recognized as National Merit Commended Scholars, signifying that they were among the top 34,000 scores.
Over 1.5 million students take the PSAT.
“It’s pretty cool, it’s a nice recognition for all the hard work I put in and it will look good on college resumés,” Johnson said.
The National Hispanic Recognition Program is a separate organization that recognizes Hispanic/Latino students who take the PSAT. In order to qualify for this you must be at least one-quarter Hispanic/Latino, meet the minimum PSAT cutoff score, and maintain at least a 3.0 GPA throughout your junior year.
Ian Dorsa, Estefania Lamas, Corinne Martinez, Alexa Rogers, and Alexandria Williams, were the few students to receive this honor.
“I feel really special because it truly is an honor. It also opens up many doors,” Estefania Lamas said.
National Hispanic Merit Scholars have the opportunity to receive full scholarship offers from places like Fordham University and the University of New Mexico.
A small group of about 1600 of the highest scoring students are named Semi-Finalists. In January, the field is narrowed down to about 1300 students, who are then notified by mail that they qualify as Finalists.
