***June 2016 SAT (US Only) Thread***

Does anyone understand the scoring/curve? How could I have gotten more questions wrong than someone but a higher score?

@Fangirl1999 Well, the Reading and Writing Scores are combined, so a -1 Reading or a -1 Writing are not treated equally. Something to do with that, perhaps?

Wow–that’s extremely high for an 8th grader. Impressive.

@JKMSNJ Congrats to him for amazing score! On a side note, do you know what the requirements are for the CTY/SET for the new sat? I just got my score for the sat that i took as a 7th grader. My score was 1360 overall, with a 740 in reading/writing and a 620 in math. I also have a 35 in the language arts and reading parts of the ACT that i also took in 7th grade. Do you think I will get in? I already sent my scores to CTY program.

@SincererLove
What is grand recognition please? I was invited to duke tip grand ceremony but I didnt know cty had one also. I sent my score to CTY to qualify for SET, but I didn’t actually register with them.

All kids with section scores of 700 and above, are invited to Grand Ceremony. D never got invited, not good enough… She was good enough to be qualified for intense program and she did math logic. She enjoyed the experience the summer before her 8th grade. Duke also has a writing program, not that selective. DS20 couldn’t go due to his freshman soccer commitments. @zindabad @JKMSNJ

Is anyone else super pissed cuz it took 7 weeks to get a score and it wasn’t as high as they expected.

@joshchen33 exactly. Very unforgiving curve and very weird questions as compared to the official practice testd

Oh yeah? How so?

@SincererLove My DS did an online CTY writing course and it was a complete waste of money.

@marvin100 The set I received had very vague vocabulary in context questions. The answer options are very close in meaning. (in the practice tests, there was only one 100% answer which was quite clear)
I believe most reading questions missed are on this section.
I think they took out one of the reading questions in the science passage too (if you got the same set, you’ll see that they set total reading ques to 51). Overall the section seems hastily prepared.

@Ldoponce , D was in JhU campus for three weeks and made tons of friends all over.

@Aovnick , D must have gotten the same form. 5 missed for 35 or 700. And That doesn’t reflect her reading abilities at all!

@SincererLove strange, I got 44/51 and a 36/40 in reading(not my strength, my average is around 45 to 47) 41/44 and a 35/40 in writing (average at 43 or 44, pretty disappointed)
Weird though, I think they scaled by question,I.e. a missed vocab in context curves more than a inference question. Just a wild guess.

(No comment on the maths curves, consistent 800 on four practice tests)

I think most of us can agree on the unforgiving curves. I think that it is really unfair to have question papers that vary significantly in their degrees of difficulty. It just shows how hastily these papers are prepared (one reading question taken out from my set) and how uncommitted and unprofessional CollegeBoard is. However is it understandable because the prep materials are insufficient and the sample size for mean score and SD is just too small for such a new test. (Hopefully the universities understand as well)

Also the June test might be curved harsher because of repeat test takers.

I’ll defer students younger than me to the ACT.

P.S. I hope they fix the Math II curve too. 800 for 81st percentile is just absurd isn’t it?

@Aovnick , just checked CB. She got all Command in Context right 15/15. She knows what she did wrong though, but she is at governor school, and I am sure she would care less at this point too.

BTW, I think the test or concordance is designed to punish kids with good math skills. Look at the concordance table, for reading or writing separately, there is no concordance for 35.5, 36.5, 37.5, etc, therefore, there is no possibility for you to get 710, 730, 750 in reading/writing sessions, while you can in math. Therefore, the kids with better math skills suffer since they need more or detailed concordance while humanities kids benefit on math. And the kids are lumped together and suffer the curve.

@Aovnick ^ I am not sure that the ACT is doing any better than those at the College Board…

My D missed 1 reading question = 34 on the most recent ACT and missed 1 science question = 34 ??? That is a pretty tough curve on a long/fast paced test… No chance at all for a 35 and perfect scores on both of those tests for a 36. Seems harsh compared to SAT curves and ACT of previous tests. They have changed the essay scoring and now have indicated that in the Fall they are abandoning those changes and are going back to their previous scoring for the essay. ACT scoring is as much a mess as the SAT…

For this class of 2017 there have been so many missteps and changes - it seems incredibly frustrating and a bit unfair

@novicemom23kids
Test prep wise, I think it is better to go for the ACT. I used a couple of different SAT prep books; they vary so much I doubt their accuracy. With only four official practice tests, one official question is probably worth around 4 or 5 unofficial questions.

The ACT has much more official material and with test prep writers being able to see more official test material, I’m sure the ACT materials on the market now are far better than those of the new SAT.

No wonder most colleges opt for interviews and essays nowadays. The numbers on the test report just don’t show everything (and sometimes are unfair to minorities/low income groups)

Planning to apply 2017, I’m crestfallen, but I guess I’ll just have to do my best and see what happens.

Hopefully, the SAT and ACT will continue to improve and improve their status as college admission tests.

@SincererLove
I got a 710 for my EBRW, they add up Reading and Writing together to get the concordance, e.g. my reading was 36/40 and my writing was 35/40; hence, my total EBRW Raw is 71/80 which translates into a 710/800 EBRW score.

For the math section, I think they need to ease down the curve by adding a bit more difficult questions. Missing two or three and losing 40 points(from what I’ve seen in posts here) is a little harsh. I’ve done rigorous math courses, so getting a perfect math score was not really a problem for me.

D got 750 EBRW, getting 35 on reading and 40 on writing So you can get combined 710, 750, etc. I am just referring to the fact that maybe for someone who has 4 wrong on reading, they got 35 instead of 35.5, which is unfair, considering for math, you can get 35.5.

Such a harsh curve on everything this test. In March I had -12 in EBRW for a 700 and in June I had -4 in EBRW for a 750. Math curves were pretty consistent but harsh nonetheless. 760 the first time with -3 and 730 the second time with -5.