@TestRekt You make a good point but I am not sure that I agree with you. I would look at it this way: If my DD is at a 1460 on the new SAT (she did not take the old one) the concordance table states that that is equivalent to a 1410. So what. This is totally irrelevant to her admissions chances unless she is a marginal candidate at a University and she is competing with another candidate for that last spot who has, say a 1420 on M+CR on the old SAT and who has a identical 4.0 GPA and similar high quality ECs. This example that I gave is just impossible to be realistic.
I think what is really happening is that the schools are setting minimum SAT/ACT thresholds for candidates to make a first cut (unless they are athletes, etc). The kids who don’t make the SAT cut get discarded at that point. This level is probably below 1400 at these schools so they don’t kick out someone who shines on all other aspects. The ones that make it through that screening are then evaluated based on the main 5 factors (GPA, rigour, SATs, essays, and ECs) with other aspects such as geographic diversity, major, need for bassoon players, etc, depending on the school. I just don’t think at this point whether DD has a 1410, 1460 or 1510 on her SAT will make much of a difference with her applications to top 30 type schools.
@londondad Sadly, a 1460 is no longer an elite score on the SAT. 1400 might be the cutoff at some schools, but other, higher-ranked schools may be cutting off at 1500 due to the recent score inflation of the new SAT. Nearly all colleges will accept her best score, so fair warning that she might not want to give up yet.
"but other, higher-ranked schools may be cutting off at 1500 due to the recent score inflation of the new SAT. "
Is that just an anecdotal comment or has somebody actually heard that from an Adcom? I had a chat with an Ivy league professor recently and her view that while she should take the exam again in October (which she is) that a 1460 is not going to get her cut off from that school particularly as she has 760+ on 3 SAT II’s and top marks on all of her GSCE/AS exams. I do think that she will do better in October as she is scoring around 1550 now on the recent timed practice papers and there was a screw-up on one of the sections in June that cost her 3 wrong answers.
I sure hope this gets worked out soon. I know our S19 will get a larger percentage of the questions right on the SAT versus the ACT. He’s tried both tests already and definitely prefers the SAT. Guess he will just have to shoot for a 1500+ so there’s no question about his testing ability!
@HigherEdData Just read through your comparison. I think it’s fair. Our S19 can get all questions right on ACT practice tests but needs a little extra time per section. (He doesn’t have an IEP or anything, far from it. He just doesn’t test well when he feels rushed. He’s never had a problem finishing tests at school.) The Science section in particular is crazy. I think it’s 8 or 9 sections and, without a major plan on how to tackle it, he has a hard time finishing. He’s in all honors and AP classes and rocking his classes, so it’s not a content issue, it’s the timing.
The SAT reading is definitely harder but he’s been reading difficult texts and classic fiction in his classes for a while so that doesn’t throw him. Plus, in middle school, the advanced reading kids did a whole program called “word with a word” where the kids learned 500 stems and were quizzed weekly on their meanings, how to use them in words, and figuring out the context of them in sentences. His vocab is strong as a result. He’s currently taking Pre Calc H as a sophomore so he can handle either tests’ math section. He found the SAT math particularly easy.
It seems to me that most kids in the tippy top of test takers would do better on the SAT. If you have strong comprehension skills and math is your thing…AND you’re given 20 seconds more per problem…I think one would get fewer wrong on the SAT. While he could probably pick up the pace for math and English on the ACT, the Reading and Science would be rough for him to race through and get a super high score.
@homerdog – Yes, it sounds like the new SAT is probably better for your son. I imagine he’s planning to retake it this October? Keep in mind that many schools superscore the SAT, they just don’t superscore across the old version of the SAT and new version.
@homerdog and @HigherEdData We spent a lot of time over the past couple of years on the issue of SAT vs. ACT and old SAT vs new SAT. (My son is a current college freshman and daughter is a HS senior). We concluded:
Both kids took timed ACT practice tests and hated the exam. They felt it was much too US centric is what they were asking and how they were asking the questions. Therefore, son just took the old SAT.
For my daughter, we had a number of issues to consider last year. First, she is applying to Georgetown so needs 3 good SAT 2 scores. She focused on these in autumn 2015 and rocked her SAT 2’s. Also, I always assumed that she would do the SAT one last time in October 2016 so I didn’t think it was a good use of her time to have to prepare for both old SAT and new SAT.
DD is moderately dyspraxic and dyslexic and generally had trouble finishing school (essay) exams on time. She now gets extra time at school. In addition she is extremely well read and reads tons of classic literature. Therefore, I thought she would do better with the more difficult, less time pressured SAT. We have requested extra time for the SAT but she was turned down by the College Board. She had issues with time pressure on last year’s SAT (partly due to a screw-up by the proctor) but has done well thus far.
Overall, based on the kids here in London, it seems to be 50:50 between doing either the new SAT or the ACT. I am not aware of any of my son’s or daughter’s friends who has done more than one type of exam.
^ Forgot to add that the other issue that made the new SAT an easy choice was that at least initially (spring 2016) we felt that there would be less widespread cheating and overprepping for the new SAT given that there was not the same body of old exams floating around. (I’m not sure how valid that one turned out, though!)