<p>I was just looking at ACTs official table for estimating the conversions between the SAT and ACT. It's supposed to be a concordance between the ACT publishers and the Collegeboard..To estimate, ACT uses a very uniqur equation to compare both tests that looks a bit sketchy for accurate estimation.. I personally think that using percentiles would probably give the best estimate between the two tests-- I can't see why this would be wrong. Looking at the scores with percentiles in mind, a 30, which is a 96% is supposedly equivalent to a 2000-- a 93%.... That's like 40,000+ people difference... This looks like a serious bias to me and a huge disadvantage to ACT scores. A 32 is a 99% (89.5% roughly) and it compares to a 2120, which is a low 97%.... I don't get it.</p>
<p>Is comparing the percentiles not a good way to compare the tests? I can't see why this is a problem. I'm coming to the conclusion that ACT's own comparison is not very accurate-- one equation for everything doesn't really seem to make sense at all.. I wish their was a good way to convert between the 2 scores. Probably gonna stick with the UoC's table or something around there, I guess.</p>
<p>If the writing was added to the ACT total, the scores would be even lower, so the SAT writing part is not the issue.</p>
<p>I’ve always just done a literal conversion (i.e. 35/36 is the same as a 2340/2400). I know that’s probably completely correct, but that’s how I compared my ACT and SAT scores.</p>
<p>I think comparing the percentiles should work fine. I mean, a little under 1.5 million take the ACT and a little over 1.5 million take the SAT (I believe my numbers are right; someone may want to check me to make sure). So, virtually the same number of people take both, so the percentiles should line up pretty well.</p>
<p>Yea, I mean in the past, i’m sure it would be more difficult to convert, but now it’s right about at 1.4 vs 1.5 million people, so the error should be trivial.
I just feel that college wise, the ACT is accepted equally to the SAT , but the score conversions seem to be decreased slightly for the ACT. I don’t why–but I think the tests should be treated equally.</p>
<p>Is there any 1-chart that gives the best estimation? Or do different colleges go by different conversions?</p>
<p>I’ve always thought this one is pretty good. It gives the ACT score and compares it to the old SAT and today’s SAT (at the time this was written, the old SAT was called the current SAT, and the SAT today was called the new SAT).</p>
<p>Is the chart you’re using assume that the range is the ACT’s respective SAT score to the next higher ACT score? </p>
<p>According to this chart, a 30 is a 1980. But as a range it is 1980-2040? Or is 1980 supposed to mean the “middle score” or exactly the respective ACT score.</p>
<p>I have been very paranoid about ACT scores ever since I started hearing about a bias towards the SAT vs. the ACT. :P</p>
<p>Most of the percentile discrepency stems from the ACT counting percentiles as your score or lower while the SAT only counts scores that are lower. That accounts for most of the discrepency though the SAT is still slightly favored.</p>
<p>Using the same percentile method on both tests, a 2190 is equivalent to a 98.58% below or at the same level. A 32 is a 98.57%. Shouldn’t that make a 32 a 2190? -.-</p>
<p>Like 32 exactly, no more no less should be a 2180-2190… but according to a lot of tables, it’s way lower. I don’t get why?</p>
<p>The discrepency probably stems from the SAT test taking population being smarter. Like where I live in Minnesota, which is dominated by the ACT all of the top kids take the SAT but not neccesarily the ACT.</p>
<p>SO, do you guys recommend sending both scores? My Sat is 2130, my ACT is 32. I have an 800 on the math SAT part though, but really low on critical reading, this the reason I was only going to send my ACT scores. Advice? ahhhh!!! (I am taking the SAT again in Oct, but the vocabulary is my problem)</p>
<p>Then why not apply reverse psychology, where the top kids take the ACT instead because other top kids aren’t taking it? I honestly believe that scores on the ACT and SAT should be comparable, and that it’s more of a matter of personal preference instead of the intelligence of the general testing population for that test.</p>
<p>I don’t think the conversion matters much. It’s all relative to what scores students get at the college you’re applying to based on the ACT category or SAT category, not both. If you converted at a certain college the average ACT scores to SAT and then compared them to the average SATs they would be slightly different.</p>
And this folks, is why the ACT gets unnecessary bias when compared against the SAT. Your statement hardly makes sense–you’re using an anecdotal account to determine the intellect of all students taking the ACT.</p>
<p>Colleges don’t care if you send in the ACT or the SAT, as long as they have at least one of them. Your 2130 SAT and your 32 ACT are pretty much the same score, so I don’t think it would matter which one you sent. If you think the CR part of the SAT looks bad, then just send the ACT. It doesn’t really matter anymore.</p>