NEWS

AHS Announces National Merit Semifinalists

Harper Mayfield, Staff writer| November 18, 2019

Allen High School recently recognized their largest group of National Merit Semifinalists ever, with 38 students. These students are among 16,000 semifinalists nationally out of over 1.5 million entrants.

Students qualify for National Merit consideration by being within the top 50,000 students, achieving the Commended rank. From there,16,000 are selected as semifinalists. 1,000 students will be cut from the semifinalists to determine the finalists. Roughly the top half of finalists will receive scholarships from the National Merit group.

“The most important part [is] having good test taking skills,” said semifinalist Ian Poynter. Poynter and other qualifiers stressed the importance of understanding the qualifying test, the PSAT.

Semifinalist Angela Liu expressed a similar sentiment, saying that “half the test is just knowing how the SAT/PSAT works.”

Allen’s semifinalists will submit complex applications detailing their academic and extracurricular accomplishments. These applications will determine which students become finalists. The students will be informed of their status as finalists in February.

Allen’s semifinalists are: