Taking the old SAT back in January, I received a score of 1810 (600 Math 590 Reading 620 Writing). Fast forward to the new test in June and I received a 1380 (670 Math 710 Reading). Regardless of the difference scales between the two tests, I obviously made a huge improvement.
I’m not sure whether to attribute this to a natural progression (as I only took one practice test in preparation for my June SAT) or the new SAT simply being better suited to my strengths.
I realize my 1380 may, in fact, be more of a 1320 on the old scale (which is disappointing since it sounds better than it actually is). It’s become difficult for me to compare my new scores to data available from colleges from the old SAT.
How do you think colleges will interpret new SAT scores? Will they find a way to compare students’ new SAT scores to the old SAT scores of previously accepted students? Will colleges put less weight on scores due to difficulty in interpreting them?
Also, do you believe SAT scores will become a less valuable component of applications in the future? I’ve noticed more and more colleges eliminating the requirement for SAT IIs and even the SAT I.
Most colleges have said that they will use the College Board concordance tables to compare old SAT and new SAT scores. The tables can also compare SAT and ACT scores. I don’t think colleges will give less weight to the main scores. I think many colleges will pitch essay scores out the window.
Most of the colleges making the SAT optional are smaller liberal arts colleges. A solid majority of students still submit scores, but it provides and alternative pathway for poor testers. It can also bring your college more applicants. The SAT IIs have been reduced from required to recommended by a number of colleges recently – in part for equity issues. Not all students have equal knowledge about STs or the appropriate timeline. There may be financial hardships involved, as well. The National Association of Counselors just came out with their latest report on college admission, and testing remains right below grades and curriculum as the most important factors. The next factors aren’t even close. As imperfect as testing is, interviews and recommendations and essays all have their own flaws.
Yes, it will be interesting to follow the types of schools that go test-optional. It was big news when Temple University went test-optional a few years ago and George Washington made headlines when they received a 28% application increase after going test-optional this past year.
We actually did a study looking at the effects of schools going test-optional (“The Test-Optional Movement at America’s Selective Liberal Arts Colleges: A Boon for Equity or Something Else?”) and found that while most schools cite goals for increasing diversity as reasons for going test-optional, these policies have done little to expand access to low-income and minority students. Instead, these policies have increased the perceived selectivity and status of these institutions.
The results were not only “suspected,” but just common sense. As higher ed cynic, I posted such a thing a long time ago on cc; test optional just helps the college – Doh! – everything that they do advantages themselves, by definition. And if going test optional just happens to raise SAT scores (and rankings?), well, I’m shocked, shocked…
Of course, if colleges want more low income and other diverse students, they need to go recruit them (and meet full financial need)!
I’m going to read the study posted a bit later tonight, but from what you all are saying about it, I am not surprised either.
As for the long-term viability of SAT/ACT tests and admission, I believe they aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. My private school students consistently have lower GPA’s then their public school counterparts in similar academic tracks. The 3.8 that shows a very strong student at a top private school is considered only average in the public schools.
Grade weighting, honors/AP bonus points, liberal curves, and watered-down classes help the publics keep their GPA’s artificially high. The ACT/SAT is the best existing solution for that private school student to prove that he or she is a more viable candidate for an elite school (and for the public school student to prove that he or she has more than just a GPA to show for his/her effort).
I had a public school student several years back who had a 31 ACT but a 4.4 GPA. This student was only ranked 40th in her class, as the valedictorian had a 4.67 GPA. The following year I read an article in our regional newspaper about a student who had graduated from an economically-challenged inner-city high school with a 3.8 GPA. She was lamenting the fact that she was unable to even be accepted to the Tennessee Community College system. THEN the article noted her composite ACT was a 14. That proves that she didn’t learn enough to go to college and that her 3.8 GPA was, for all reasonable purposes, given to her.
As long as this type of grade inflation takes place, the colleges have to have a tool to sort through weak and strong students.
Soapbox now back under the table!
@apocalypsedreams Interviews, essays, and recommendations have far lower correlations with college success than GPA or test scores. Many colleges have even dropped the interview or made it optional. Essays can be a wonderful way of finding out more about a student. In the worst case scenario, they are a way of finding out about how much editing a parent or paid surrogate has done. Recommendations have a highly restricted range.
In the NACAC survey, the number of colleges ranking those factors as of “Considerable Importance” were 22.1%, 3.5% (interview!), and 17.3%/15.2% (counselor and teacher recommendations). In contrast, GPA in college prep courses is at 79.2% and test scores at 55.7% (another 7% for AP/IB and 5.3% for Subject Tests).
@TestRekt
“Most colleges have said that they will use the College Board concordance tables to compare old SAT and new SAT scores.”
Do you think this is true? I did a tour last month of some mid-Atlantic and Southeastern private Unis and asked this specific question. Nobody said that they would follow the Concordance Tables. The responses came basically in 2 categories: 1) These are different tests (old SAT and new SAT) so we will evaluate you on how well you did on the test that you actually took so we are ignoring the concordance tables or 2) We have a holistic process and SAT/ACTs are much less important than GPA, rigour of schedule and essays.
Therefore, I think that many public universities (excluding the top ones that claim to be holistic) will use the concordance tables as they have large numbers of applications to get through and many of their merit scholarships are GPA and SAT/ACT focused, but that many private schools will not and will formulate their own criteria.
The SAT redesign has been causing a ton of confusion. I’m a tutor and have been trying to field a bunch of questions. Obviously at the end of the day, regardless of how it’s weighed you just want the best score you can get.
My students understandably want to go deep into this discussion so I’ve pointed them toward this thread. Also, I have a friend who works in school guidance that passed along this eBook which I think is a pretty good resource - it certainly helped a few of my students feel more relaxed about it all: https://www.albert.io/blog/ultimate-student-starter-kit-to-the-sat/
The SAT is a far more predictable test than is the ACT. That being said, the SAT is brand-new and not all the kinks have been ironed out yet. There are only 6 official practice SATs thus far, but there are over 50 real ACTs floating around that you can practice with.
All things being equal, I think it’s now easier to get a higher score on the SAT (until the arrival of the New SAT and its inflated scores/percentiles, it was the reverse scenario), especially given the ACT’s very liberal stance on extended time administrations of the tests.
@londondad I’m an alum at a top LAC. A few weeks ago my daughter had the opportunity to meet with the Director of Admissions. She took the SAT in March and got 1510. My daughter asked if she should take the test again. The Director walked her over to her desk, plugged the numbers into her online concordance table, and said yes.
In my subsequent discussion with the Director, I asked her opinion on the accuracy of the concordance. She said that they have nothing else to go on until the applications start rolling in. If the percentage of applicants opting to submit ACT or old SAT (over lower new SAT scores) is really high, that could cause the new SAT scores they see to skew high.
My take: if that happens it could result in a similar percentile shift as the concordance if they attempt to crunch the numbers themselves.
I agree with the fact that you are having trouble converting your scores. I still honestly can’t figure out what my new SAT score would be on the 2400 scale… I remember the first time I looked at it, I was like “okay, I got a 1250, whatever”. Then everyone started saying how “anything above a 1200 puts you in the 75th percentile and is considered an excellent score”. Fast forward to now, apparently 1250 isn’t as great as everyone thought it was because the conversions are off. So now I’m retaking it again in October, hoping to get a much better score. Smh.
@lnicole I’m glad I’m not the only one. College Board tells me I got a 1950 even though my Reading Writing and Math add up to a 1990. Then naviance tells me I got a 2000. I’m just so confused.
@londondad This is what I’ve heard at the schools I’ve visited too. It makes sense to me that they wouldn’t use the new SAT conversions because they’re supposedly completely different tests. It’s because of this that I’ve been led to believe the new SAT scores would be difficult to interpret and therefore not weighted as much on apps.
@bucketDad Thanks to the release of the scoring curve for SAT Tests #5 and #6 (the Saturday and Sunday versions of the May SAT), we can take a closer look at what that 1510 really means. Depending on the distribution of scores, your daughter could have answered as many as 8 questions wrong out of 154 (95% correct). That’s still a great score, but yes it could be a little better (it corresponds to a 1470 on the old 1600-point SAT). I would shoot for at least 97% correct if possible (mid-1500s), which is about 4-5 questions wrong total. Depending on the curve of that particular test, that should do the trick.
Another way to think about it: 95% correct (low 1500s) is an A, and 97%+ correct (mid-to-high 1500s) is an A-plus.
@londondad Response #2 from the admission offices regarding concordance is, of course, a dodge. Their admission is holistic. A student is not a test score. But unless the college is test blind (Hampshire, I’m looking at you), they consider test scores. Response #1 is a bit more on point, but it is still a dodge. Without a reference point, what is the best way to decide what a 1310 or 1410 or 1510 means?
A more telling question might be, “If I submit both SAT and ACT, do you take my best score?” or “How do you compare SAT and ACT scores?” The difference between the old SAT and the new SAT is similar to the difference between the old SAT and the ACT. Do all colleges use a concordance? No.
Let’s imagine that colleges don’t use the concordance tables. I still need to use a concordance. They’ll get to see thousands of applications and may be able to get a sense of how a 1410 student differs from a 1510. All I know is my score, the scores of my friends, and an untrustworthy percentile score. The best way for me to either compare my old and new SAT scores or think about how my new SAT scores match up with a college’s numbers is to use College Board’s conversion tables. They’re odd. They’re confusing. They’re what we’ve got.
