What You Need To Know About The PSAT And National Merit Scholarship

Each fall, the College Board administers the PSAT, which is also known as the National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (NMSQT). Students take the PSAT/NMSQT in 11th grade, and their score on that test determines whether they qualify for National Merit. Some schools also offer the PSAT in earlier grades as practice.

2025 Administration

The PSAT was administered in October. It was only offered in a digital and adaptive format, rather than paper-pencil (with exceptions for students who receive certain accommodations).

Digital: Bluebook App

Students took the digital PSAT on the College Board’s Bluebook app, which has several features:

• Saves students’ progress and stops the timer in the event of an internet or power outage, allowing students to pick up where they left off. 
• Prevents students from opening web browsers or other applications to search for correct answers. 
• Is equipped with Desmos, a highly sophisticated graphing calculator that many students are already familiar with (though students can use their own calculators and/or scratch paper if they prefer).
• Allows students to mark problems they want to go back to, annotate passages, and cross out answer choices. 

Scores are released in batches based on when schools administered the test. College Board has indicated that scores should be available to all students by November 13.

Adaptive: By Section

The digital PSAT includes a Reading/Writing section and a Math section. Within each section,  students take two modules. They start with the Reading/Writing section, where the first module contains a mix of easy, medium, and hard questions; each question has an associated difficulty level. Depending on their performance on the questions on the first module, students advance to an easier or harder second module. After a short break, they do the same with Math. Excluding the break, the test takes 2 hours and 14 minutes to complete:

Reading/Writing

• 54 questions (27 per module)
• 64 minutes (32 per module)
• 1:11 per question

Math

• 44 questions (22 per module)
• 70 minutes (35 per module)
• 1:35 per question

Other features of the PSAT’s structure:

• Every Reading/Writing passage is short and only has one question associated with it, as opposed to long passages with multiple problems
• Most math problems are multiple-choice, but about one-third are free response
• Students are permitted to use a calculator on every math problem

It should be noted that not all students will have taken the digital, adaptive exam. Though Bluebook does provide an extended time option within the app, students who receive certain accommodations still take a “linear,” non-adaptive, paper-pencil PSAT. 

Scoring

Most students are familiar with the top scores they can achieve on standardized tests: 36 on the ACT, 1600 on the SAT. The PSAT works a little differently. While there is a maximum score (760 on Reading/Writing, 760 on Math, for a total of 1520), the National Merit Corporation uses a Selection Index to determine National Merit eligibility. To calculate the Selection Index:

1. Divide each section score by 10.
2. Multiply the Reading/Writing score by 2.
3. Add the Reading/Writing and Math scores to get the Selection Index (maximum of 228).

So, the Selection Index for an example student who scored 1400 overall, with 720 in Reading/Writing and 680 in Math, would be calculated as follows:

1. Reading/Writing score: 72. Math score: 68.
2. New Reading/Writing score: 144.
3. Selection Index: 144 + 68 = 212.

You might notice that this appears to advantage students with stronger verbal abilities because the Reading and Writing section score is doubled – and you’d be right. Here’s the Selection Index for the same composite score of 1400 but with the Reading/Writing and Math scores from the previous example flipped:

1. Reading/Writing score: 68. Math score: 72.
2. New Reading/Writing score: 136.
3. Selection Index: 136 + 72 = 208.

For each section, there will be overlap in scores between the highest scorers in the easy module and the lowest scorers in the hard module. However, if a student lands in the easier second module, they will not be able to attain the maximum score of 760; their score will be capped somewhere below that.

National Merit Qualification

While many sophomores and nearly all juniors will take the PSAT, the exam’s purpose may feel a bit opaque. Students may know that PSAT scores are used to determine whether they qualify for National Merit, but the different levels of recognition and chances of getting an actual scholarship through the program can be confusing. Moreover, students aren’t notified about their level of recognition until the fall of their senior year, almost a year after they take the PSAT.

There are several score cutoffs along the way to receiving a National Merit Scholarship:

1. The first level of recognition is National Merit Commendation. Approximately 50,000 PSAT-takers reach this level or beyond, with about two-thirds (34,000 or so) receiving commendation. The cutoff for the Class of 2026 (the current senior class) was 210, two points higher than the previous year. Commended Students are not eligible for National Merit Scholarships.
2. Approximately one-third of students whose scores clear the Commended score threshold (historically, less than one percent of all PSAT-takers, around 16,000 students) qualify as National Merit Semifinalists. This level of recognition is determined on a state-by-state basis, meaning the threshold for qualification in Wisconsin is different than it is for students in New York or California or Wyoming. (These state-level thresholds do not apply to students at boarding schools, who are grouped with other boarding school students in their region of the country.) For the Class of 2026, the Semifinalist cutoff for Wisconsin is 215. It’s impossible to know for certain if that Selection Index threshold will increase, decrease, or stay the same for the Class of 2027, though based on recent trends it is unlikely it will go down – it has increased by a point each of the last two years.
3. Semifinalists then have the opportunity to become National Merit Finalists and be considered for a scholarship. There are several requirements for Semifinalists, which include completing the National Merit Scholarship Application (which includes an essay) and taking an SAT or ACT to “confirm” their PSAT performance. (More information on the requirements is here.) Nearly all Semifinalists (over 95 percent) advance to become Finalists.

Scholarships and Admissions

Qualifying as a Finalist can lead to both scholarship money and, in some cases, even guaranteed admission to college.

Scholarships

There are different types of scholarships offered through National Merit: one-time National Merit Scholarships of $2,500, corporate-sponsored scholarships, and college-sponsored scholarships. College-sponsored stipends range from $500 to $2,000 per year, while corporate scholarships range from one-time payments of $2,500-$10,000 to renewable awards of $1,000-$10,000 per year. However, only about half of Finalists will receive scholarships – according to the National Merit Corporation, 7,590 awards are available for 15,000+ Finalists. More information on scholarships can be found here.

Admissions

In our neighborhood, UW-Madison has instituted a policy of admitting in-state applicants who are National Merit Finalists through the Wisconsin Guarantee, provided they meet all admission requirements. This is a new development this year. Other colleges provide substantial financial incentives for National Merit Finalists, though there are often other requirements attached, as well.

Alternatives

The standard path to National Merit recognition is through PSAT scores, but there is an alternative path to National Merit as well as another recognition program offered through College Board:

1. Alternate Entry. Students can attempt to qualify for National Merit if they were unable to take the PSAT (for example, if they were sick on test day) by submitting an SAT score instead. The Selection Index through Alternate Entry works the same way as with the PSAT, but the SAT section scores are capped at 760 (instead of 800) to match the PSAT’s scale. More information is provided here.
2. College Board National Recognition Program. This program allows students who are first-generation, attend school in a rural area or small town, or who are top performers in their school to achieve recognition based on their PSAT (or AP) scores. While it is not a scholarship program and not associated with National Merit, it can be a resume-booster for qualifying students. This link provides more information on eligibility requirements.

PSAT Scores and Test Prep

If your student is a junior doing test prep at Galin, share their PSAT score with us! It is a helpful data point as we plan future lessons. We can also use it to decide if the ACT or SAT is a better test for your student going forward; we will occasionally consider a one-time switch from one test to the other.

If your student is a junior who is not working with us, reach out! We can set up a complimentary consultation and use the PSAT as a diagnostic exam as we make our recommendations for the best test prep plan for your student.

If your student is in 10th grade or below, feel free to reach out, too! We don’t start working with students on test prep until the spring of their 10th grade year. But if you get on our radar now, we can get you started right when we open up slots for sophomores, using the PSAT score to guide our test prep recommendations. In particular, if your sophomore student got a high score on the PSAT, we can discuss options for preparing for the PSAT in 11th grade – the one that counts for National Merit – over the summer and into the fall of their junior year.

Please do not hesitate to get in contact with us with any questions about your student’s PSAT scores, how we use those scores to guide our test prep, or how we prepare students for the PSAT. We can also talk with you about how students can use their PSAT/NMSQT scores to their advantage in the college application process!