The PSAT is often perceived as unimportant because it won’t have a direct effect on college admissions or high school transcripts. Some students even see the test as a joke, going home after the test and tweeting about an easily mockable article. But the joke’s on them.

The PSAT, the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, is a test to determine if a student is eligible to become a National Merit Scholar. It is important to note that qualifying for this scholarship isn’t a walk in the park. The eligible students represent less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors. Determining the list of qualifiers is complex, as there are five stages of qualifications. According to the Compass Education Group, from 1.5 million students taking the PSAT as juniors, only 50,000 receive National Merit recognition. Next, around 34,000 students are recognized as Commended Students at the start of their senior year. The third stage selects the semi-finalists, which include roughly 16,000 students. Around 95% of the semifinalists are named as finalists if they meet the academic requirements, maintain a minimum SAT score, and meet other criteria. The following spring, the finalists are offered scholarships from both the National Merit Scholarship Corporation and sponsoring colleges. At Benet Academy, both sophomores and juniors will take the PSAT on Wednesday, October 19. Sophomores will be taking the test just for practice, but for the juniors it will be the real deal.

The Benet Academy Class of 2017 Semifinalists were chosen based on their high scores on the 2015 PSAT. The ten semifinalists from Benet are the following: Olivia Crabtree, James Dourdourekas, Michael Dunn, Noah Helm, Betsy Keefe, Mark Moran, Michael O’Grady, Jack Riedl, Jonathan Sutkowski, and Dirk Wallace. Congratulations on this fantastic recognition!

Olivia Crabtree, one of the semifinalists, answered some questions to help give a better insight on the test. She had not done anything in particular to prepare for the test, though she believes that taking the test sophomore year prepared her for taking it junior year. Directly after the test, Crabtree felt confident in her performance and thought the test was pretty easy for her. After getting her score back, she wasn’t too surprised to be named one of the semifinalists. Even so, it was exciting for her when the semifinalists were officially announced. She had been hoping to be named a semifinalist, especially because many schools give scholarships for National Merit. The next step is applying for a finalist spot, which is exactly what Crabtree plans to do. She also hopes that becoming a semifinalist will make college searching easier. “I honestly could not be more proud of myself,” Crabtree says on being listed as a semifinalist. Good luck to all of the semifinalists!