The common data sets for each college list the 25th and 75th percentile for the ACT but it is broken out as Math and English. What about the Reading and Science section which are used for the composite-- are those included ? How? thanks
The Common Data Set definition - http://www.commondataset.org/docs/2018-2019/CDS_2018-2019.rtf - has
SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing
SAT Math
ACT Composite
ACT Math
ACT English
ACT Writing
Anything not there isn’t defined as part of the CDS - SAT Essay and ACT Science, Reading
I also noticed the common data set info on ACT tests in many cases doesn’t match what the school websites say. Is this because the school website info is more up to date?
CDS doesn’t capture ACT Reading and Science, and as you have probably seen many schools do not fill out all fields on their CDS anyway.
CDS contains data for matriculated students. School websites/press releases sometimes include all accepted students. When comparing data from website to CDS, you also have to make sure you are comparing the same year (class). CDSs aren’t commonly released until the winter, with many not coming out until the spring.
The common data, which was mainly created by US News for colleges to provide information needed for its college rankings, has traditionally provided the English and math middle 50% ranges for ACT because US News decided to do it that way. As to why, part of the reason is that, particularly in past years but not so much today, many colleges, in determining admission, would convert ACT scores to SAT scores, and English was used to match reading in the SAT and math matched math, with the result that the ACT reading and science scores were left out because the SAT had only two non-writing sections. Also, and it is still true today, many colleges considered the math and English sections of the ACT to be be the more important scores.
As to the information varying from what a college provides on its site, that is usually the result of timing of the information. For an entry class, colleges typically have all the information they need to create the middle 50% ranges by late Aug when the new class shows up, and thus can provide that info on their sites, but that information is not provided for the common data set until beginning in Oct and many do not provide it until much later, with the result that the common data set is often a year behind what you see on a college’s site.
School websites (class profile) are typically the most recent numbers available aside from campus news articles, but might be data for admitted students rather than enrolled students. It varies and it is important to note admitted vs enrolled when looking at class profiles.
Right now, school website class profiles typically have class of 2022 data; a few may have admitted data for 2023. Most will have class of 2023 data posted late summer/early fall.
The Common Data Sets are easier to compare because they only include data for enrolled students, but they have a time lag. 2018-2019 CDS with class of 2022 data was posted on most college websites over the winter, but some schools like Harvard won’t post this until May. The Common Data Set info at NCES (https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/) is currently the 2017-2018 CDS for class of 2021, and will roll over to class of 2022 sometime around early June.