OVS senior Conway Gilbreth was recognized recently by the National Merit program for his performance on the PSAT his junior year.
With a score of 1380 out of 1520 on the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, Conway recorded one of the 50,000 best scores in the nation. Each year, more than 3.5 million high school students take that test, which means Conway was among the top 2% of test takers nationwide.
“I was really surprised,” Conway remarked. “I mean, I knew I did pretty well, I didn’t know I did that well.”
The PSAT is a nationwide test that allows sophomores and juniors to get a feel for the SAT that they will be taking throughout their upcoming school years. It is also a way of determining the recipients for government-funded National Merit scholarship.
Surprisingly, Conway’s high test score isn’t even a result of intense studying, but simply his own knowledge and skills.
“I didn’t study [for the test],” Conway revealed. “I literally learned about it the day before [we took it].”
Usually, Conway is allowed extra time on his tests. However, for the PSAT, he didn’t sign up for the extra time and had to take the test within the normal hours.
As Conway’s advisor, Assistant Head of School Crystal Davis was proud of his accomplishments.
“Understandably, I was elated by the news that he had been recognized,” she said. “It’s really gratifying to see what [Conway] has been able to put together and achieve the results that he deserves.”