I would like to point out that I walked into the ACT a week after I took the June SAT and got a 35, one point away from a 36. So it’s most certainly not the fact that I’m a poor student. I missed 3 questions, and on the SAT that merits a 770+, not a 720. I don’t see how it’s an objective measurement of a student’s ability.
If you get 3 wrong on a 100 point test, but then others get 3 wrong on a 1000 point test, obviously it looks like you’re the worse applicant. But when not given the chance to take the 1000 point test and prove that you are that good of an applicant, it just destroys you mentally and then colleges think worse of you.
By the way, for anyone saying that they don’t want their scores to be rescored, you do realize that the CollegeBoard is going to grade with a fairer curve, right? Which means your score increases.
Yes, they are. CB knows with near certainty which are easy questions, medium questions, and hard questions. Generally, a test has an even mix of each. But then they get a random test like June which has more easy questions as a percentage. Voila, harsh curve.
But, this is no different than some College tests. My D had a Chem test where the mean was a 92, with a SD of 3. Thus, an 88 was a bad score.
Or, to put it in better terms, I got 4 questions wrong throughout the whole test and got a 1490. Is this a good example of my test taking ability that I can show to colleges?
I also don’t buy the “unscored” part of the test. Just a year ago, one of my friends failed to bubble in 3 of the last questions on one of the sections, and those were marked wrong, not “unscored”. I lost points due to an error on their part. Again, how is this my fault and how do I put this on my application?
“I would like to point out that I walked into the ACT a week after I took the June SAT and got a 35, one point away from a 36. So it’s most certainly not the fact that I’m a poor student. I missed 3 questions, and on the SAT that merits a 770+, not a 720. I don’t see how it’s an objective measurement of a student’s ability.”
DynamicAero,
Your school record is evidence of your performance as a student. Your ACT score is fantastic.
Find a way to be proud of these accomplishments and do not let one SAT score throw you for a loop. If by “How do I put this on my application?” you mean, “How can I report this score?” … then, don’t. If you are that upset by it, just report your ACT score.
If you actually mean, “How do I explain to Admissions that I was cheated by the CB with regard to my SAT score?” … don’t go there. I would think that any attempt at explaining away this score would impact your chances of admission much more than the score itself would.
Im so scared . im about to be a junior and have been studying for the sat this summer and my sister was one of the people who got a much lower score. What if that happens to me? What if I decide to take November instead of August test and because of that decision my score will impacted badly. It makes me hate the sat and the minolly they have on kids
You do NOT. There is absolutely nothing that you can say that will help your case.** If you feel strongly that you are a high 700 guy/gal, retake in October. (I believe CB is offering a retake for free if you contract them to complain.)
But since you scored a 35 on the ACT, I’d drop off of this blog and go outside and have some fun.
**For example, Dear highly selective College: I just took the easiest SAT test in years, and I missed 3/4. But, but, but, I’m better than that. Please admit me."
@llgslp The test wasn’t “easy” for everyone, and even people who thought it was “easy” might not have had time to go back and check their answers. Comparing every other test taker to your son isn’t exactly proving anything. The CB did mess up on the June SAT. The curve is predetermined, they knew this would happen, they knew how easy it was, yet they still chose to use this specific version of the test.
More importantly, there is no guarantee that the poster got all of those questions correct! Omitting questions which one just missed can be a good thing.
“EBRW he also got a 720 with 6 wrong on reading and only 1 wrong on writing. On the December test he also got 6 wrong on the reading and more (maybe 4 or 5) wrong on writing, and his score was 750.”
Just for perspective, Practice Tests 5 - 8 (based on genuine, and probably early-on, administrations of the new SAT), saw Reading scaled scores vary by only 20 points for a -6. However, for -8, a -5, or -2, that variability doubled. So it really depends on what part of the curve you land on.
“My D got 13 additional questions correct compared to May in R/W and only improved her score by 10 pts.”
For the R/W, 13 additional questions doesn't translate into some scaled equivalent of +13. Reading has it's own curve, as does Writing. And those scaled scores are actually AVERAGED to arrive at EBRW. This isn't quite correct, but it's almost like they cut your +13 in half (assuming you scored equal improvements in each section). Perhaps in this light, the +10 bump in the scaled score doesn't look so bad :)
For the reading test, my answer service says there were 52 total questions, 2 incorrect, and the other 2 are un scorable? Why do I get a 48/52 when it isn’t my fault that two questions were unscorable?
My writing was 44 total, 5 incorrect for a total of 37 correct, but there are also 2 unscorable questions for the writing? Why is it different between the reading and writing?
@awilson9 they are accounting for 100% of the 52 responses. For everyone who had your test, two questions were tossed out. Not sure what they do about this (do they adjust the max? Do they simply omit any bubbled in responses and even no responses?) but it penalizes NO ONE. You missed two, not four, on the reading test, just like the answer service says, and for writing you missed five, not seven.
@JBStillFlying I’m just confused because on my answer service it does not look the same on both reading and writing/ Reading says 52 total, 2 incorrect, 0 omitted. And the other 2 are unscorable. The writing says 44 total, 5 incorrect, 0 omitted. The reading total doesn’t add up, but the writing one does?
@awilson9 The number correct = Total - Incorrect - Omitted - Unscorable. “Omitted” is different from “Unscorable” in that those who answered the question correctly gain a point, and you don’t. Conversely, with “Unscorable”, no one gains a point, regardless of how or whether they bubbled anything in.
If your totals aren’t making sense given the above formula, you need to contact CB pronto.
