@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.