As half of Bloomfield Hills High School juniors took the mandatory Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT), an “irregularity,” according to BHHS Administration, occurred.

“As you may be aware, there was a slight irregularity of the administration of the PSAT test on October 11, 2017 for Juniors testing in the Auxiliary Gym,” said Associate Principal Sharida Lewis. “An irregularity report was submitted to the PSAT/NMSQT indicating that one section was undertimed by five minutes.”

Lewis explained that, upon review by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC), students will, depending on whether they believe the irregularity negatively affected them, be permitted to “submit an SAT score taken between October 2017 through June 2018, for consideration in the 2019 [NMSC] Program.”

“The National Merit Scholarship Program is an academic competition for recognition and scholarships that began in 1955. High school students enter the National Merit Program by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT)—which serves as an initial screen of approximately 1.6 million entrants each year—and by meeting published program entry and participation requirements,” according to the National Merit Scholarship Corporation, which typically selects the top one-percent of test-takers on the PSAT, depending on one’s selection index score.

Lewis noted that “this irregularity will not affect [a student’s] ability to be admitted to a college.”

A meeting with juniors impacted by this irregularity will take place on Tuesday, November 28 in order to ensure all students understand their options, where the Counseling Department “will discuss the available options to these students in more detail.”