<p>Back in 1976 the scores that I received were 560 verbal and 580 math on the SAT.</p>
<p>Could anyone possibly tell me what percentile I was in or maybe point me to where I might get more info on this? I've searched on the web for an hour or two and haven't come up with very much.</p>
<p>Thanks ...</p>
<p>You could try these SAT</a> equivalence tables. Keep in mind that these tables are rough estimates, not exact equivalences.</p>
<p>The above tables give you, on the modern scale, 630 verbal and 590 math.</p>
<p>^ why would there be a difference? aren't both versions based on curves?</p>
<p>The tests were different from what they are today. Similar, but still different.</p>
<p>When more and more people began taking the SAT exam the mean score significantly dropped. The SAT I exam is designed to have a mean score of 500 with a standard deviation of 100. Long ago, only wealthier college-bound students would take the SAT, but as college and the SAT has become more and more popular, nearly all high-school students are required to take the exam. When more people began taking the exam, the mean score began to drop to the low 400s and College Board had to "re-center" the test results. Thus, scores today are generally (roughly, not exactly) 100 points higher than they would have been back then. Plus, like fignewton said, the format of the exams have changed multiple times over the years.</p>
<p>I can't be sure on that but I remember reading something similar to that somewhere and I believe one of my teachers who used to work for CB told me that.</p>
<p>But I have no idea what the OP's percentiles are, sorry.</p>
<p>Well, use the conversion table then look up the current percentiles. </p>
<p>630 V on the modern scale is 85th percentile. 590 M on today's scale is 72nd percentile.</p>
<p>Wait, with the way the SAT is designed you can use z-score to estimate what your percentile was (580-500/100, 560-500/100). Using the z-score method and percentile conversion chart I'd estimate your percentile was 79th on math and 73rd on verbal.</p>
<p>So yeah I think the percentiles are actually the same as they would be today.</p>
<p>Um...may I ask why the heck you care about it today?</p>
<p>No, they're not, guitarman89, because in 1976, the means were much lower than 500. More like 430 for V and 470 M.</p>
<p>how did you get a 1976 sat test?</p>
<p>When he took it back in 1976? :P</p>
<p>Arachnotron no the mean scores were not 430 V and 470 M. The mean SAT score for a section is always very, very close to 500. That's just the way the test is designed and scored. For proof visit this page and you'll see that the mean score for Verbal in 1976 was 509 while for math it was 497.</p>
<p>Those are recentered means, though.</p>
<p>A 590 on verbal was 94%ile of all test takers in 1975, and 89%ile of college-bound test takers, and a 480 on math was 43%ile of college-bound test takers; don't remember exactly what the %ile was for all test takers, but it was something more respectable than 43%ile, for sure. In the 70s-%ile, IIRC.</p>
<p>I would imagine that one year later, similar scores would be about the same %ile.</p>
<p>I actually have the October 1974 percentiles (all students) from a yellowed CB bulletin that my Dad (a high school administrator) happened to keep, here they are:</p>
<p>score verb math</p>
<p>800 99+ 99+
750 99+ 99+
700 99+ 99
650 99 98
600 97 94
550 93 88
500 86 80
450 76 69
400 64 56
350 49 41
300 33 23
250 17 5</p>
<p>The average verbal score was 368 (!) and average math was 402.</p>
<p>Perhaps a better comparison is the 1981 cohort of college bound seniors (in another slightly less yellow bulletin):</p>
<p>score verb math</p>
<p>800 99+ 99+
750 99+ 99
700 99 97
650 97 93
600 93 86
550 86 74
500 74 59
450 59 44
400 42 30
350 25 17
300 13 7
250 5 1</p>
<p>The average verbal score was 424 and average math was 466.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I actually have the October 1974 percentiles (all students) from a yellowed CB bulletin that my Dad (a high school administrator) happened to keep, here they are:
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Thanks. That's when I took the test.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I actually have the October 1974 percentiles (all students) from a yellowed CB bulletin that my Dad (a high school administrator) happened to keep, here they are:
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Thanks. That's when I took the test.</p>
<p>:d ^^^^^ :d</p>
<p>Thanks to all that have replied here!</p>
<p>vicariousparent asked me "why * care about it today?"</p>
<p>I only remember my scores, not my percentiles. Someone recently told me their percentiles from an exam taken many years later. I was wondering how I my test results compared to theirs.</p>
<p>HiPeople wanted to know how I had obtained a 1976 SAT exam. Arachnotron correctly understood that I took it ("sat for the exam" as a high school student) back in 1976.</p>
<p>Based on the information provided by owlice and fignewton I'm guessing that vis-a-vis all test takers my percentiles were 90th percentile for verbal and 92nd percentile for math. Of course, those are just guesses. My percentiles vis-a-vis college bound students were lower.</p>
<p>WOW fignewton, thanks for going through your fathers old CB pubs for this! That's above and beyond the call of duty!</p>
<p>It appears that putting square brackets around the word "I" in the above post has caused it to be rendered in lower case.</p>
<p>No big deal ...</p>