Portland Adventist Academy has the honor and distinction of having a student qualify as a possible National Merit Scholarship finalist. This student who wishes to remain anonymous scored in the 99th percentile on the Preparatory Scholastic Aptitude Test taken this last fall. Four other students from PAA also scored above the 90th percentile on this exam. The five students ranking above the 90th percentile are Amy Bellinghausen, Amy Crosby, James Lee, Andrea Melnychenko, and Andrew Hahn. The Academy congratulates each of these students on their achievement.
The PSAT exam is emphasized heavily in college admissions evaluation, so these students will have a distinct advantage when they apply for college admission in 2005.
About 80 percent of the Academy’s junior students took this exam. It is the Academy’s policy to encourage all junior students except our English as a Second Language students to take the PSAT.
The PSAT and SAT exams are thought to be a test of the reasoning ability of secondary school students. A second exam, taken by all sophomore students at PAA, is the Iowa Test of Educational Development, abbreviated as the ITED. This test, by contrast is thought to be more a test of general knowledge.
The 2004 results of this exam have placed 3 PAA students at the 99th percentile, and another 2 students above the 90th percentile.
The possible National Merit Scholarship finalist reveals that she spent on average, one hour a day during the summer preparing for the exam by taking an online course specifically to prepare for the Scholastic Aptitude Test. Dick Molstead, former Vice President for Education in the Oregon Conference teaches a course at PAA to help prepare students for the PSAT and SAT exams. He encourages all students planning on taking these exams to prepare for them by taking a preparatory course.
Clockwise from left: Andrea Melnychenko, James Lee, Amy Crosby, and Amy Bellinghausen. Absent for the photo was Andrew Hahn.
