Eliana Sauer, a junior at Madison Memorial High School, has long hoped to qualify as a National Merit Finalist, a designation that can unlock thousands of dollars in scholarship money. She took the preliminary SAT, also known as the PSAT, as a sophomore and did well. But only the scores a student receives their junior year are considered in the scholarship award.
Because the Madison School District has been operating online, it didn’t offer the in-person exam to students this year, something Sauer said the district didn’t fully communicate despite families sending multiple inquiries in recent months.
“We had just been banking on that test being offered so when it didn’t happen and there was no communication about it, we were in panic mode,” she said. “It just seems like no one is super interested in helping juniors figure this out besides juniors.”