Do colleges convert your ACT score to SAT? Do they do it by a range?

Applying to College
1

Do colleges convert your score?

Going off of this: https://www.act.org/solutions/college-career-readiness/compare-act-sat/

So if I got a 34 on reading and a 32 on math that put’s me at a 1460. Then I got a 35 on English, so that would put me at an 800. That’s a total of 2260. That’s accurate to a certain extent, right? I got a 32 on science so that’s what bought my score down.

Do you know if colleges look at your ACT score and compare it to an SAT score like the chart did? And do they do it by section or by composite?

2

Read the Concordance table. CR+M = Composite, not Reading + Math.

34R+35E=34.5 to compare to Writing. Something like a 780.

Each school will compare how they want to. This is a generalized table.

3

@“Erin’s Dad” It says CR+M, does that not stand for critical reading and math?

4

Use the Composite number to equal CR+M. NOT the ACT Reading and Math

Table 1 Concordance between ACT Composite Score and Sum of SAT Critical Reading and Mathematics Scores

5

The table compares the combined reading and math SAT score to the ACT composite score. It does not compare the SAT math to the ACT math or the SAT reading to the ACT reading. The separate table compares the SAT writing section to the ACT combined English/writing score not the English score. Moreover it is a comparison to the old ACT not the one that started in September 2015 which changed the writing section and how it is scored.

In any event, be aware: (a) that table is 8 years old and based on data that is 9 to 10 years old and thus may not reflect a comparison of today’s SAT and ACT scores; (b) both SAT and ACT state that it is a guideline, not a comparison that must be followed; © majority of colleges do not even do conversions; they know where their usual SAT range is and ACT range is and use what they know; (d) those that actually do conversions, either SAT to ACT, or ACT to SAT, very often do not use those tables but instead base comparisons on their own data from applicants to the university, much of which data is more recent than that used for the tables, and both SAT and ACT actually recommend that as a better method than using the tables to do a conversion for any particular college.

In other words, do not get hung up trying to come up with the precise conversion to SAT that a college may make to the SAT. You have a good ACT score.

6

It might be helpful to look up the Common Data Set for a school you are interested and see the ACT scores for admitted students. You can see what numbers are in the range for a given school.

7

Just adding to saskatchewan’s helpful advice above…the CDS reports stats of enrolled students, so to the extent that a school does not have 100% yield, the accepted students’ stats may be higher than the enrolled students’ stats. This differential can sometimes be seen in 10 or 20 points per SAT section, but rarely seen in ACT scores. Lower yield = greater differential.