One student at South has been chosen as a National Merit Scholarship semi-finalist. Around 1.6 million high school juniors in over 22,000 high schools have entered into the 2017-18 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying test, according to an email sent by Tom Herandez, and Maritza Gallegos, senior, was selected as one of the semi-finalists.
Around 15,000 of the 16,000 semi-finalists for the current high school year are expected to be named finalists, and around half of the finalists will be named National Merit Scholars.
“I’m very pleased and excited to have a chance to compete for finalist!” Gallegos said.
Gallegos mentions that the National Merit Qualifying Test is different than other tests due to variety of topics it covers and offers test taking advice.
“There’s practice that can be done, but mostly my advice would be to work hard in class, be prepared for how the test is going to be set up, and maybe take a practice test,” Gallegos said.
Gallegos also included that a good night’s sleep is ideal for the days leading up to the test.
“Achieving more academically is usually a matter of putting in the work even when the material may be boring or difficult, finding out what works for you when learning something, and asking for help when you need it,” Gallegos said.
Gallegos will compete for 7,500 National Scholarship Merit awards, worth a total of $32 million. Winners will be announced in the spring of 2018.