There are 13,188 Missouri entrants. There are only 344 semifinalists. You need 213 points to earn National Merit Semifinalist recognition in Missouri from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. You need 201 points to earn National Merit Commended recognition. At STA, four seniors were National Merit Semifinalists and four seniors were National Merit Commended, 6.25% of the class. The average score for the class of 2012 was 162.5.

This January, the juniors received their scores from the PSAT test they took in October. The average score for class of 2013 was 160.

According to principal for academic affairs Barbara McCormick, STA tries to help students prepare as much as they can for college while also succeeding at the best level possible for them.

“If you have the student with the ability [to do better on a standardized test] and they just need a little push to make it, we are going to do that,” McCormick said. “We are all about intervening in order to make students successful.”

STA uses a preparatory class for the PSAT as one method of intervention. The critical reading and writing skills prep class, taught by English teacher Kelly Fast, had 5 juniors this year. Nine juniors took the math prep class taught by math teacher Jo Weller. Both classes were held during activity periods Tuesday and Thursday for 4 weeks before the PSAT.

According to college counselor Debi Hudson, STA has offered the prep class for many years to students who may qualify for National Merit recognition by the Corporation.

“The fall PSAT prep course is for students who typically tested at the 185 selection index or higher on their sophomore PSAT (around a 90%),” Hudson said in an email.

According to junior Elaine Schmidt who took the class, she felt pressured to do well on the PSAT after being placed in the class.

“I did feel like we were expected to become National Merit Scholars, but it was a good pressure,” Schmidt explained. “It was ‘you have the ability to do it’ [pressure].”

Junior Maddi Hughes-Zahner, another student in the class, also felt pressure to score in the National Merit range.

“I almost expected myself to get that score,” Hughes-Zahner said. “Then I didn’t, which was disappointing.”

Although they all took the prep class, Hughes-Zahner, Schmidt and junior Libby Stoops felt they did not do as well as they wanted to or expected to. Hughes-Zahner was disappointed with her score.

“I wanted [my score] to be really high,” Hughes-Zahner said. “I wanted my name to be announced over the intercom [as National Merit].”

Stoops was also disappointed in her score because she felt like she was competing with her classmates.

“I wanted to beat everyone in the class,” Stoops said. “All the people in the class were really smart. It made me more competitive.”

While Schmidt, Hughes Zahner and Stoops all felt pressured to do well on the PSAT, they all felt the preparation would help them on the real ACT and SAT.

Zahner felt being in the prep course helped prepare her for future standardized testing.

“It made me feel more confident in myself,” Hughes-Zahner explained. “‘Go Maddi, I was one of the top 9.’”

Stoops felt the class helped her become more familiar with the tests.

“I felt a lot more prepared because I was more aware of things on the test than I was before and I knew better test taking strategies,” Stoops explained.

Schmidt felt the preparation for the PSAT helped her think about college.

“It really got me thinking about being prepared for college and kind of got me started preparing for the ACT and SAT,” Schmidt said.

According to Hudson, STA does push students to do well on standardized tests, but other sources also influence students.

“I do think students are pushed when it comes to standardized tests, but it comes from so many sources: parents, college reps and publications, test prep companies, even US News stares at you in the grocery store with it’s “best” colleges and their scores,” Hudson said in an email. “I think the pressure has increased because higher scores equals more money and with the high cost of tuition everyone’s trying to get money.”