<p>Ever since the June ACT scores were released I have been looking at the ranges listed on the collegeboard website for the schools Im interested in. Alot of the time it appears that when you convert the ACT scores given in the range to SAT scores, the ACT range is lower. My question is: are ACT ranges really representative of the admitted students/are they a useful tool in gauging admissions chances?</p>
<p>The conversion tables are not reliable. A 31 on the ACT puts you in the top 5% but converts to a 1300 which is top 13% or so on that test. Given the large numbers taking each something is wrong.</p>
<p>Yea, I also wonder about this too.</p>
<p>barrons - but the demographics of those taking either test is usually different, isn't it? I think they determined that by looking at what an applicant with a 36 on the ACT got on the SAT, then a 35, 34... etc etc.</p>
<p>At least, I'm hoping it's true because my 35 is supposedly equivalent to a 1580 on the old scale, which is much better than my current SAT score. xP</p>
<p>That's what I originally thought too. </p>
<p>But it depends what conversion table you're using. </p>
<p>If you use any of the new ones for your score out of 2400, they simply take the ratio of the ACT score to 36 and give you the corresponding ratio in the SAT scores. (your percentage)</p>
<p>Also, I've notived that, every single person I know at least, that has taken the ACT and SAT has scored higher on the ACT when they use a conversion table which makes me think about the validity of them. I don't think the ACT is neccessarily easier, I just think the conversion tables are off in that your ACT score corresponds to too high an SAT score.</p>
<p>It's more like the ACT and SAT tests do not measure the same thing. Although... my SAT CR and ACT R scores are comparable, and my SAT M and ACT M scores are equivalent. But my SAT W and ACT E scores are a bit different, and the ACT science reasoning section brings my composite up over my SAT composite.</p>
<p>Yea....I got an 1870 on my SAT with taking a course and doing practice.</p>
<p>I got a 30 on my ACT with no practice whatsoever.</p>
<p>So...it looks like I am much more suited for the ACT, hopefully I can bring the score up to a 32+.</p>
<p>The ranges given for ACT scores by each college are representative. The reasons those ranges don't match up with the SAT/ACT conversion tables you find on-line are: (a) all of those conversion tables you find on line are outdated and should only be viewed as some general guide; they all have their genesis in a College Board percentile comparison study published in 1997 based on 1994-96 scores of people who took both tests in a limited part of the country, mainly the southeast; the College Board's conversion table that it provides on its site is that one and if you read the footnotes to that conversion table and articles cited you will see that above is true; everybody else's on-line conversion table is derived from that one provided by the College Board; (b) though some colleges still rely on that conversion table, many either do not follow any conversion table or develop their percentile comparison of ACT/SAT scores based on SAT and ACT test scores from more recent years. Doing so shows that the original 1997 conversion table is off usually by anywhere from 20 to 50 points per comparison level-- e.g., a 29 ACT is now more akin to about a 1330 to 1360 SAT than the 1280 to 1310 from the 1997 table; (c) the difference also reflects that most colleges when they use your ACT score for admission take your highest composite from a single sitting even if you took multiple tests, but for the SAT they determine your total SAT by combining your highest subscores from multiple tests, which means the SAT ranges shown will tend to be somewhat higher than ACT ranges.</p>