Worthington high schools' National Merit semifinalists achieved stellar scores on a national qualifying test and hope to attend some of the top colleges in the country.

The National Merit Scholarship Corp. has named 12 of Worthington's seniors -- eight from Worthington Kilbourne and four from Thomas Worthington -- as semifinalists in a competition for more than $36 million in scholarships.

The seniors are Rebecca Borden, Roy Greim, Ryhan Hassan, Maria Khrakovsky, Matthew Mayberry, Emily Singeltary, Kyle Troutner and Bernard Wen from Worthington Kilbourne; and Rachel Keeler, Taylor Russi, Matthew Tischer and Rachel Webb from Thomas Worthington.

To qualify as semifinalists, the students scored in the top 1 percent in the nation on the 2008 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.

Borden said she prepared for the test by taking it both her freshman and sophomore years.

"I think taking it early helped because I kept getting more comfortable with it," she said. "My advice to someone taking the test is to definitely take it as many times as you can and not to stress out too much. During the test, answer all the questions you can and then go back to the ones you skipped over."

Borden is involved in the choir at Kilbourne, along with her church youth group. She owns horses and said "riding takes up a lot of my time."

She has two college choices: Ohio State University and the University of Michigan.

"I think I'm leaning more toward OSU," she said.

A major is a harder choice.

"I'll probably declare undecided on the major, but have looked at aerospace engineering," she said. "I'll figure out a career choice as I go along."

Greim also took the test during his freshman and sophomore years.

"I wanted to see where I was in terms of score and see what I could work with," he said. "I also took a test prep class and took the PSAT practice test, then took the real SAT test to apply the stuff I learned in the class. They were all good practice for the test.

"Juniors taking the test should figure out what sections they are strong in and work on those and make sure they have the timing down and not stress too much," he said.

Greim started the Ultimate Frisbee Club with a friend, is in the school orchestra and Key Club, and played tennis for three years.

His college choices are Amherst, Williams, Swarthmore and Princeton.

"I'm not sure about a major at this point or an eventual career," he said.

Hassan said he went through "a lot of practice tests."

"I took the test my freshman and sophomore years and a tutoring service helped me improve my English scores," he said. "My advice for students would be to set up a target score and figure out how many you can get wrong. That way you can manage your score. There are also tactics you can find online."

He is involved in the Math Club and with the school literary magazine, The Prospice.

His top college choices are Northwestern, Carnegie Mellon, Stanford, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Cal Tech, with a possible major in computer science.

His eventual career is undecided at this point.

Khrakovsky took some practice SATs and took the PSAT her freshman and sophomore years.

"I would suggest students do some practice tests," she said. "The practice tests helped me feel prepared. When you know you have to finish in a certain amount of time, it's helpful when you take the actual test."

She is involved in choir and theater and plays tennis.

Her top college choices are Ohio State, Michigan and Carnegie Mellon, with a possible major in finance or statistics and an eventual career as a financial analyst or actuary.

Mayberry said he took the test during his sophomore year and a practice test from the test packet.

"I'd tell other students not to worry about it, because it's not the most important thing in the world," he said. "They should get a good night's sleep. I read a lot of books, which probably helped with comprehension and vocabulary."

He played football through most of high school, but suffered a concussion and now coaches middle school football. He also plays the trombone in the wind ensemble and is involved in theater.

His first college choice is Dartmouth, followed by Northwestern, Columbia and Cornell.

"I'm basically as undecided on a major as you can be," he said. "My loose plan is to go to law school, so I may major in something like political science or history."

Troutner was exposed to the SAT test early, in seventh and eighth grades, then took the PSAT test as a freshman and sophomore.

"I would say students should definitely try to take the PSAT before their junior year and, if they didn't do well on some sections, to study those," he said.

He runs cross country and is part of the Ultimate Frisbee Club and National Honor Society.

His college choices are Ohio State, Carnegie Mellon, Emery and Washington at St. Clair, with majors in computer science and Japanese.

"I'll probably do something in video game design," he said.

Wen studied for the test through an online study program.

"I think the main thing to know is how to eliminate the wrong answers," he said.

His college choices are Northwestern, Columbia, University of Pennsylvania, Duke and Ohio State, with a major in premedicine and an eventual career in medicine.

Keeler said she didn't prepare at all for the test.

"I got plenty of sleep and ate breakfast," she said. "I'd tell students to prepare the exact amount you think you need because you are probably right. Don't let people overprepare you."

Keeler's activities are the National Ocean Sciences Bowl team at Linworth and marching band and math competitions at Thomas.

She hasn't pinned down a top college choice yet, but will probably major in computer science, chemistry or mathematics, with an eventual career involving one of those majors.

Russi prepared for the test by reading classic novels and brushing up on vocabulary words at the Web site freerice.org. She also took a few practice tests.

"Students should recognize there will always be limits to what they can do to prepare, but if you accept that and do your best, you may get more than you expect," she said.

She's involved in Ski Club and the Book and Bagels book club, and volunteered at her mother's preschool, which is connected to her church.

Her top college choice is Kenyon, but she also has checked out Dennison and Brown, with a major in art or writing.

"I'd like to be an author or painter," she said.

Tischer reviewed the material he got about the test when he registered.

"I'd tell students to just review the material that comes with the test; it's a good guide and the more material you review, the better," he said.

He's involved in the theater program and Science Olympiad and has taken part in several math competitions, along with community service with his church youth group.

His top college choices are MIT, University of Illinois at Urbana and Carnegie Mellon, with a major and eventual career in engineering.

Webb said she studied a few times a week over the summer before taking the test and completed a practice test.

"I didn't do anything super-intensive to prepare, but did go over math, which was my weakest point," she said. "I'd tell students not to stress about it too much, but do put in some effort, because it is worthwhile for the scholarship opportunities."

She plays varsity tennis and plays violin with the Columbus Symphony Youth Orchestra.

Her top college choice is Georgetown.

"I'm thinking of majoring in international relations with a focus on the Middle East and want to ultimately work as a foreign service worker or in the state department as a diplomat.

Singeltary could not be reached for comment.