<p>My daughter asked me last night how the new SAT scores will compare to the old SAT scores, as in "what will a 1300 on the current test be on the new SAT?" </p>
<p>Using the assumption that a 1600 and a 2400 are top scores on each version, and 1500 on the old test can be roughly translated as losing 50 points on each subject area (or 100 points total), is it then fair to say, the equivalent score to 1500 on the new test would be 2250? 2400 - 150 (50 points for each of the three sections?)</p>
<p>Anyone have any thoughts on this? I think this is an interesting question as I think by next march we'll all be struggling with a new "language." I don't think it will work, exactly, to just talk about the math and verbal sections with the new SAT as some people seem to do with the PSATs. It will also be interesting to see how the median changes. Right now it's somewhere in the 1000's as I recall.</p>
<p>I don't know Carolyn. It is concerning though, isn't it? Being a beta tester is always worrisome. I try not to buy any mechanical or electronic device in its first year of production but with the ACT "optional" (yeah,right) writing section coming also, there are no proven models to choose.</p>
<p>Well, it's certainly going to change a lot of the "What are my chances" threads here on CC! LOL! I'm always amazed at kids who get 800's on the math but 500 on the verbal --- with the writing section thrown in, we'll probably see even more lopsidedness.</p>
<p>Our county school system did a presentation night on the new SAT and a consultant to the College Board said that the reliability (or is it the validity? always got those two confused) of the new test has been correlated with the old test so if you would have gotten a 500 in math on the old test, you should score about a 500 in math on the new one. I wonder if that's really going to be true since the math components are a little different and the verbal part has changed its content as well. What do you all think?</p>
<p>My fear is that college admissions officers are going to put more emphasis on GPA for a few years until they determine if the students they accept under the new test scenario do as well as under the old, e.g. if College A's median range was 1200-1400, now they will want to target 1800-2100 and see if those kids are just as successful academically at their institution. </p>
<p>I say this possibility is my fear because our county has chosen this academic year to implement a new grading policy which some people thought would cause grade inflation but seems to really be deflating grades. (they eliminated class participation, homework, attitude and extra credit as components of grading.) So for the class of 2006, this group of several thousand kids in our county have the double whammy of a new SAT which may get less weight from colleges and a new grading policy which will lower their GPA.</p>
<p>Yikes, dcmom, they eliminated class participation and homework as components of grading - that would scare me to death too. My kids' GPA would automatically drop if that was the case in our school. I can see why you'd be concerned about a double whammy. I'm not sure what the effect of the new SAT is going to be. They make me very nervous - like you say, they will either be generally disregarded by colleges or colleges will try to muddle through like the rest of us. I suspect it's going to be mostly the latter. Some will probably just disregard the writing section for awhile. But I do think there will be some targeting as you say while they try to figure things out.</p>
<p>My take on this is that this will NOT represent a massive change. The absolute scores are not as important as their interpretation by the schools. For instance, there is quite a bit of difference between a 800M/700V and a 750M/750V. I think that the schools will continue to focus on the Math and Verbal scores as the two main scores, and then consider the Writing in the same way as they do the SAT2 scores. Schools that considered the SAT2 Writing very important will continue to do so. Numerous schools are, however, approaching the SAT1-Writing with some circumspection, and will want to verify the integrity of the post-2005 test. There is a world of difference between the old Writing SAT2 test and the new one, not to so much for the contents, but in the way the test will be processed. When it comes to verify the integrity of the process and, more importantly, the qualifications of the pool of reviewers, the jury will be out for a long time. While the integrity of the SAT1 is beyond reproach, the same cannot be said about the final product to be delivered by the UK-based Pearsons and a hodgepodge of reviewers with different and unproven qualifications. </p>
<p>This leads me to believe that the scores will be viewed as 1600 + 800 (with questions) + two or three SAT2. Obviously, this path of caution will be ignored by the UC schools, since they prefer to blaze their own tortuous trail.</p>
<p>PS My conclusion is that it will be misleading to compare scores by simply multiply an old SAT by 150%. That said, I expect the 2005 CC board to be full of reported scores on a 2400 scale. At least, it will make the PSAT/SAT comparisons easier :)</p>
<p>Carolyn, thanks for posting the score correlation chart. I meant to sit down and calculate that to help my daughter figure out which schools she can get into, after we get her March (new) SAT scores. I copied and pasted that for later so we can see what schools might be reach/mid-range/safety. But, who knows? As you said, there will be lots of muddling through.</p>
<p>Slight correction--the county's new grading policy allows teachers to include homework as part of the grade if the teachers choose--but not whether the homework is correct, just if it's completed. So, teenagers being teenagers, the kids in my daughter's precalculus class pull out their homework each morning for the teacher to see that they did it (and it is merely pencil marks on paper that resemble math problems--the kids don't actually DO the math problems, heaven forbid!) So how can they master pre-cal without working through the problems? Don't know.</p>
<p>I'm fairly new- does anyone know if there is a thread on the old board about comparison of PSAT scores to eventual SAT scores? Are PSAT scores really a good predictor? Karen</p>
<p>Karen: there is, and it is in most but not all cases. I remember thinking that the variations between PSAT and SAT were no greater than the variations in multiple SAT sittings that people reported.</p>
<p>the county's new grading policy allows teachers to include homework as part of the grade if the teachers choose--but not whether the homework is correct, just if it's completed.>></p>
<p>Dcmom, now, that's even more absurd to me! Just scratch out any old thing and you get credit? Come on! My kids get really frustrated with teachers that don't collect or correct homework assignments. What's the point of doing them if you don't get any feedback on whether you're doing them right or not? It's not so much about the grade as it is about learning. Why give homework in the first place if it's never going to be reviewed? Argh!</p>
<p>Xiggi - your idea of 1600 + 800 makes a lot of sense. I bet you are on target. Still, the kids are going to be looking at and comparing their total scores, and you can bet your bottom dollar that guidebooks and the colleges themselves will be reporting total median scores of accepted students by this time in 2006, regardless of how they actually weight them in the admissions process.</p>
<p>Karen, I asked the same question and as Idler said, there were a variety of answers. The general opinion was that they correlate - to an extent - but are not set in stone as a true indicator.</p>
<p>I think it's still gonna be kinda weird for me. I won't have to take the new SAT... but asking someone what they got and them saying a 1500 I would have to stop for a second and think that 1500 is no longer good after it being my dream for so long.</p>
<p>For the UC's the change is actually much ado about nothing (except dropping analogies) because the UC's previsously required the SATII writing test anyway. As Xiggi notes, the new SATI writing portion is similar to the current SATII writing test. The only difference for the UC's is that they will no longer double weight the value of the SATIIs. (Prior to the class of '06, UC counts the SAT II's at twice the rate of SAT I; thus, the max point value is 1600 + (2400 x2) = 6400.) Thus, for the class of '06, the new max value will be 2400 + 1600 = 4000, since only two SATII's are required, one of which must be math.</p>
<p>Xiggi also correctly noted that grading the new test may be an issue, since millions more kids will take this new writing portion than had taken it in the past. Thus, grading quality maybe an issue -- I hope not since I have an '06.</p>
<p>A final thought: at a recent info session, the adcom indicated that not only do the colleges receive the scores of the writing portion, but they also will receive a copy of the essay that the student wrote during the new SATI! She mentioned that their school had not yet decided in what context they might review that new writing essay and how it would play into the admissions decision, if at all....</p>
<p>The speaker from the College Board at our h.s. said they won't deduct for illegibility for the written essay but if the readers cannot decipher what a student wrote, that has to add a subjective element to the grading that won't help a student.</p>
<p>The essay will be 'graded' on a rubric score, and simple spelling errors will not count negatively as noted by dcmom. But, the question is not spelling errors, I think, but will adcoms the essay as a writing sample of the student's work, which, is likely to be less polished than the app essays.</p>
<p>The point of grading students on the completion of homework, which in my experience usually occurred in math and science courses, is that they don't have to spend an hour looking at a problem that they can't figure out how to do. The teachers aren't supposed to give credit for "any old thing", but an actual attempt at solving the problem must be demonstrated.</p>
<p>Usually when homework is graded on completion, the teachers will ask if the kids have questions the next day, and then go over those certain questions.</p>
<p>Of course, as the student, there were many times when I, and other people, scribbled out crap the period before it was due, and got credit. We were good enough to make it look like we made an attempt though. So yes, the system is abused, but the kids only hurt themselves. I was in the IB program, and I had too many 5 page english / history papers, 15-20 minute oral presentations, 5 page chem labs, 3 page papers analyzing calvin and hobbes cartoons for philosophy, and 15 page math problems to worry about whether or not I got an individual question right on a homework. Daily homework is to practice what was taught, and come back with questions on what you don't understand. Not come back with all the right answers you got because you sat down with your parents for 45 minutes to figure it out. (My opinion, obviously =))</p>
<p>Bottom line is: When they don't know how to do the problem come test time, it will show who took the homework seriously and who didn't.</p>
<p>i am glad that they are adding a writing section to the SAT. i'm just stating my opinion based on what ive seen going on (i realize i'm probably wrong on this, but like i said, it's an opinion) i see so many people posting their admissions essays for people to proofread, for people to make changes to, and i personally think that when someone is submitting an essay it should be their work.. not given to 20 other people to look over first and make changes.. its almost like you could be the worst writer ever and have everyone else shape it into a wonderfully sounded essay - that's misleading. when writing the essay on the SAT that's fully the students work.. and I hope that the colleges take as much into consideration (the score given on that section), as they do to a personal essay submitted, because they don't know if that is the childs fully original work. </p>
<p>i must be one in the minority in that i don't let anyone read my essays/papers/whatever else that i write. at least not till after it's graded and done with. if someone else critiqued my essay and gave their input as far as content - what i should add, what i should take out.. i just wouldn't like that. it is my paper. i feel that my stuff should be 100% my ideas, my writing, my grammer, etc. </p>
<p>Fendergirl, I don't know if you are in the minority. A lot of us just don't trust that the essays will be scored anything but randomly. As to having the SAT I essay sent to the college, no problem here.</p>
<p>In my required English Composition class in College One the chairman of the department decided that the best way to learn to write , was to write. Every MWF we wrote a timed essay on a topic unknown to us prior to class. I think we used 20 minutes of class time for the "theme". It was lecture format the remainder of the time. </p>
<p>We had "death penalty" grading. Sentence fragment-F.( Like that sentence fragment, LOL.) Misspelled word-F. Comma splice-F. Dangling participle-F. Ending a sentence with a preposition-F. Drop-add day looked like a jail break. Fully half of the class had done the math on their first few essays and escaped. That class had certainly a way of keeping you focused.</p>