Kewanee High School student William Ly received a perfect score on the math portion of the National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.
Ly, a junior at KHS, took the test on Oct. 30. He is the son of Michael and My Din Ly.
He was selected to take the National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test
due to his very high score on the Preliminary SAT (PSAT) test he took last year as a sophomore.
On the math portion of the NMSQT this year, he scored 760 of a possible 760 points.
William received a total score of 1420 on the test.
When reporting his score to William, the College Board wrote, “You meet entry requirements for the 2025 National Merit Scholarship Program, and your Selection Index score will be considered among 1.3 million program entrants. If your Selection Index places you among the 50,000 high scorers who qualify for National Merit Scholarship Program recognition, you will be notified in September 2024.”
William is also a participant in the Kewanee Voice’s Student Journalism Program.
The National Merit Scholarship Program is an annual academic competition among high school students for recognition and college scholarships that began in 1955. The program is conducted by National Merit Scholarship Corporation, a not-for-profit organization that operates without government assistance.
United States high school students enter the National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT, which serves as an initial screen of over 1.3 million entrants each year, and by meeting published program entry and participation requirements.
