<p>Challeged-I already said that a 36 and a 2400 are not the same. 36 implies questions potentially missed. 2400 doesn’t. Thus, we can’t compare 36 to 2400.</p>
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<p>I almost fell out of my chair from laughing at that absurd statement. Doesn’t come any more ignorant than that. </p>
<p>@Videogames thats only CR though, on the math section, you typically frop 10-20 points for the first wrong question and then 20-40 for each wrong question after that. Not to mention the dreaded guessing penalty.</p>
<p>Cortana-Math is definitely not that harsh. <a href=“http://www.erikthered.com/tutor/SAT-Released-Test-Curves.pdf[/url]”>http://www.erikthered.com/tutor/SAT-Released-Test-Curves.pdf</a> I see at most 30 for the first questions. After that it ranges from -30 to -0.</p>
<p>And yeah that “thousands” statement was a bit absurd.</p>
<p>Guessing penalty doesn’t really have anything do with anything; the curve accounts for it. AP tests removed guessing penalty, but a 5 still represents the same level of understanding as it did before.</p>
<p>Well while you guys argue about 2400/36 equivalency (Lol…), I still attest that the ACT is a bad measurement for us slightly-above-average students who score 1500-2000 SAT, but 30+ ACT. I don’t know, but my anecdotal data doesn’t match up with CB. Maybe CB needs to update their SAT/ACT adjustment scale. </p>
<p>The average ACT score may be 21, but come on, the giant midwest is involved on that one. I don’t have hard data on students who did better/worse on the ACT but neither do you. I collect my information anecdotally and it seems most coastal people do inexplicably better on the ACT.</p>
<p>BTW I mean coastal people like those who live on the west/east coast, not like Native Americans. Hey ya.</p>
<p>Midwest percentages for ACT are only slightly higher than Midwest percentages for SAT. </p>
<p>I’m done with this thread. I believe that ACT is just as good a measurement as SAT is. I’m not even going to explain any further. </p>
<p>And btw, talking about “above average studnets” is pretty ignorant. It’s not like these tests were written just for “Above average students”.</p>
<p>My s2 took the Apr 2011 ACT. He missed 1 question in science and got a 34. No 35’s. I think the curve for reading for that test was -1 =34. He received a composite of 36 by scoring 36M,36 R, 36 E, not missing any questions in those sections. So, on that exam you could only miss one question (if it occured in science or reading), and get a perfect score. Those of you above stating that a 2400 SAT means one didn’t miss any questions are mistaken. You can routinely miss 1 or 2 on CR and still get and 800. For that matter, you can get an 800 in writing with -1 and an 11 essay (as my s2 did). Point is, for the reason stated above: a 36 is equivalent to a 2400.</p>
<p>@denizen
Lets take your the average of your people getting a 1500-2000 on the SAT (1750). 1750 is 77th percentile. Now the percentile of just a 30 (you say 30+) on the ACT is 96. Your contention is that the 77th percentile and 96th percentile scores are equivalent because the pools are different. First, the idea that people in the midwest are 19% stupider is a very bold and unsupported statement. Secondly, the College Board and the ACT even left this unlikely statement as possible and created the conversion table by using the results of those who took both tests with statistical controls. It isn’t about how easy or difficult the questions on the test are, its about how its curved. And ACT Science is a section that has the SAT-like “hard” questions your are looking for to make the test more “accurate”.</p>
<p>ok ok ok…I get what all of you are saying. </p>
<p>But let’s say someone scores a 1750. He is obviously not satisified so decides to take the ACT and gets a 30! Now his score is equivalent to his buddy’s who got 2000 on the SAT. Do you really think that’s fair? I sure hope admission officers don’t. An ACT score almost feels like a sympathy number.</p>
<p>Are you saying that always occurs? Don’t overgeneralize based on what you see.</p>
<p>They test different things. Maybe the guy in your example was a good student, studied hard, but not the best at possibly tricky questions and out of the box thinking. In this case the ACT would suit him better than the SAT.</p>
<p>HAHA this is hilarious. For those who are saying that a 2400 implies that no questions were missed are seriously misunderstanding the basic concepts of standardized testing.
On the SAT CR section, one can typically miss 3 or 4 and get an 800.
On the SAT M section, one can typically miss 1 and get an 800.
On the SAT W section, one can typically miss 1 or 2 and get an 800.
So how many does that equal? You can (hypothetically) miss a maximum of 7 and get a perfect score.</p>
<p>On the ACT, the margins are much less, however much people wish to refute it:
On the ACT E section, you CANNOT miss any to achieve a 36. (36/35/34/33/32)
On the ACT M section, you can typically miss 1 and get a 36. (36/36/35/34/33/32)
On the ACT R section, you can typically miss 1 and get a 36. (36/36/35/34/33/32)
On the ACT S section, you CANNOT miss any to achieve a 36. (36/34/33/32/31/30)
So, to achieve a perfect score on the ACT, you can (hypothetically) miss a maximum of 5.</p>
<p>Additionally, the ACT has approximately 50 more questions than the SAT does. Do you still claim that the ACT is “easier” than the SAT?</p>
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<p>Are you trying to say that people that cannot think out-of-the-box should not be able to attend the college of their dreams? There are 2 tests for a reason, and it seems as if you are missing the point.</p>
<p>^well, I think the actual questions on the SAT are much harder than that of the ACT. Plus there are some killer vocab on the SAT.</p>
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<p>Well, vocab isn’t the best indicator of college readiness is it? No professor will ask you the definition of the word “happenstance”. </p>
<p>And the questions on the SAT are NOT harder. They just phrase their questions in a way that makes it artificially more difficult. For example:</p>
<p>For all positive integers a and b, let a dot b be defined by a dot b = ((a^b) + 1) over (a minus 1).
What is the value of 4 dot 2?</p>
<p>All this question is asking is: if a=4 and b=2, what is ((a^b) + 1) over (a minus 1). Not hard at all.</p>
<p>Anecdote. You’ll find that when you compare aggregated SAT and ACT ranges for universities, both West Coast and East Coast schools end up admitting students in the same ranges. If the SAT and ACT weren’t accepted as equals, there would likely be a discrepancy in the scores of admitted students who submitted either test. But there isn’t. Colleges show absolutely no preference to either test. For all the people who do well on the ACT but not on the SAT, there are similar people who cannot replicate their SAT results on the ACT. And its not to the detriment of either group to have experienced both exams. </p>
<p>There are plenty of threads that pop up in SAT Prep forum regarding whether to submit a 2050 SAT or 31 ACT. I think that the OP is experiencing voluntary response bias. </p>
<p>And about the SAT Writing section: As far as I remember, there is lenience in overall scoring based off of the essay portion and the multiple choice questions. Released exams in the Blue Book say that -1 and 10 essay is good for 800, as well as a couple more multiple choice wrong and a 12 essay. To me, this makes the SAT Writing section easier (not that it and the ACT Writing weren’t already) since a beefy, formulaic essay can get an easy 12. On the ACT, writing a good essay doesn’t save you if you don’t know your grammar to (sic).</p>
<p>CantConcentrate-Whoops. I was ingnorant in that it is possible to miss questions and get a 2400. My mistake. But I definitely agree with your other points.</p>
<p>Actually, on average, you can miss about 2 on CR to keep an 800. By missing 1 on Writing you’re already down to a 78 (you can still get a perfect but it depends on essay). On math, the average over the past several years for missing one is 790. </p>
<p>Assuming you can miss 2 on Writing (10-11 essay) and 2 on Reading, you can miss a maximum of four.</p>
<p>@Challenged:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.erikthered.com/tutor/SAT-Released-Test-Curves.pdf[/url]”>http://www.erikthered.com/tutor/SAT-Released-Test-Curves.pdf</a></p>
<p>Try -2 on Writing (with a good/decent essay), -1 Math, -3/4 Reading. That’s still -6/7.</p>
<p>The difference, and a very slight difference it is, is comprehension (ACT) versus aptitude (SAT). ACT questions are more straightforward, yes, but they also may be a bit more difficult. Consider ACT math in comparison to SAT math: ACT math requires knowledge of precalculus and trigonometry and runs on a shorter clock, whereas SAT math is more just wading your way through ultimately simpler, though sometimes trickily worded, problems. Which would you prefer? I’d take the SAT, personally; I’d rather have the extra ten seconds to consider a problem that I’m certain I can answer, given enough thought. (I’ve always kind of thought of SAT math as being another critical reading section, just with numbers instead of words.)</p>
<p>ACT is also 4 sections compared to the SATs 3, therefore allowing more room for error. And SAT vocabulary can be memorized literally right before the test while the concepts on the ACT have to be previously known</p>