Everything came together for Nathaniel Bauman in his third time taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.
He was able to improve his score between his freshman and junior years, and he recently learned it bumped up again after taking it in the fall of 2017.
On Wednesday, the Trinity Lutheran High School senior learned he is among nearly 16,000 semifinalists in the 64th annual National Merit Scholarship Program.
Those seniors from around the country continue in the competition for thousands of National Merit Scholarships worth more than $31 million that will be offered in the spring.
To be considered for a merit scholarship award, semifinalists must fulfill several requirements to advance to the finalist level of the competition.
More than 90 percent of the semifinalists are expected to attain finalist standing, and about half of the finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship, earning the merit scholar title, according to a news release from National Merit Scholarship Corp.
Bauman is the first Trinity student to be named a semifinalist. Last year, Rachel Onken earned the commended student honor. Two years before that, her brother, Luke, and Ethan Neawedde received the same status.
“I have worked hard for it, but I think it’s even more a testament to what my teachers and my family and my school have prepared me for,” Bauman said.
“They say it takes a village to raise a child. Well, it takes an entire school to teach a student,” he said. “I have talent and skill that I have worked to improve, but I could never have done it without the people around me to encourage me and sometimes against my will to make me better myself and achieve this great thing.”
Lori Moses, the school counselor and test coordinator, said Bauman is one of 318 semifinalists from Indiana schools.
“It means he’s in the top 2 percent of all scores in the state,” Moses said. “They take each state individually, and it’s the top 2 percent for each state, so that’s quite an accomplishment.”
More than 1.6 million juniors in about 22,000 high schools entered the 2019 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2017 PSAT/NMSQT.
Moses said the qualifying score changes from year to year for each state. If a lot of the scores are higher, the cutoff score is higher. If they are lower, they cutoff score is lower.
For Indiana, the cutoff score was 219, which was Bauman’s score. He said a classmate scored 217 and didn’t receive the commended student honor, so that shows how competitive it was.
Bauman credits part of his improvement to taking algebra II his sophomore year and precalculus his junior year.
“Most of the highest level math stuff on the SAT is algebra II level, and then obviously, just practicing with English and stuff like that over the years, it just builds,” he said.
PSAT/NMSQT includes sections on reading, writing and language, math without a calculator and math with a calculator. Each one is timed, ranging from 25 to 60 minutes, and has nearly 20 to 50 questions apiece.
Students receive an evidence-based reading and writing score, a math score and a selection index score, which the National Merit Scholarship Corp. uses in its National Merit Scholarship Program. The selection index score is calculated by doubling the sum of the reading, writing and language and math test scores.
Another thing that has been really helpful to Bauman is the STAR curriculum at Trinity. STAR, which stands for skills, tutorials and resources, involves dividing up each class by grade level and once a week receiving targeted instruction on what’s appropriate for that grade.
For freshmen, it’s learning study, organizational, listening and communication skills as they transition to high school. For sophomores and juniors, it’s tutorials for test preparation, and juniors also get ready for college entrance exams. And for seniors, it’s resources, which involves college and scholarship applications and transitional material to help as they move on to college or a profession.
Last school year, Bauman and other juniors worked to solve problems in an SAT practice book, and they came together to check their answers.
“I remember taking the SAT in December of my junior year, and I remember there were some math questions that I would not have known had I not had that class, and I got the same response from my friends,” he said. “English is different because that’s more reading comprehension. You just get that through practice, but with math, you learn new concepts.”
Moses said STAR helps students improve their test-taking skills.
“The test-taking skills are going to help you with no matter what test you end up taking,” she said. “Even if you don’t go to a four-year school and you’re still taking an entrance exam for a vocational program, it’s going to help, too.”
Bauman said he plans to take the SAT on Oct. 6 to get a writing score and improve his overall score.
While some people experience anxiety while taking a test, Bauman said he has never experienced that.
“I felt worried about some tests obviously, but I never really felt that anxious, and I tend to actually thrive taking tests,” he said. “I do well on schoolwork, as well. I keep my grades up through hard work. … I have almost always enjoyed taking tests in some way.”
For others taking the PSAT, SAT or ACT, Bauman offered some advice.
“There will a few questions that are incredibly difficult always, and if you spend your whole time on those questions without a guarantee of getting it right, then there’s a good chance you’ll miss a lot of very easy ones later on,” he said. “If you have a hard question, either force yourself to put down an answer because you know you’re not going to get any farther or circle it and come back at the end.”
Also, be sure to take practice tests, he said.
“Practice makes perfect,” he said. “SAT and ACT offer their own practice materials, practice tests. I think they cost money. It’s a good chance, though. It’s worth the investment. … Apply yourself and take it. It will help in the long run.”
Bauman has to submit paperwork for the National Merit Scholarship Program by Oct. 10. The finalists will be announced in February, and National Merit Scholarship winners will be announced between April and July.
“Not only National Merit Scholarship, but there are many other organizations that offer scholarships to these students, and then some colleges have scholarships if you are a semifinalist or finalist,” Moses said. “Depending on the school, some of them will offer up to 100 percent tuition.”
After high school, Bauman said he plans to attend Concordia University in Chicago or Nebraska and major in secondary education in hopes of teaching English or theology. He also may minor in ancient languages.