I know the scale has been pretty harsh lately, but what’s the deal with the SATs administered during the school day? Is the scale always so harsh? My DS19’s school gave the test to the entire senior class on October 10.
Math: 2 incorrect/0 omit was a 750 (I just read a bit further down that 2 wrong that same week-10/6-was a 770! Ouch…he could have used those 20 points!)
The reading/writing is what really hit hard. He went from having 22 wrong to having 13 wrong/1 omit and received the same exact score both times (Aug. 28 vs. Oct. 10).
Since reading and writing are averaged, it’s hard to go from 22 to 13. More likely he went from something like -11 to a -7. Does that make sense? And while the individual test scores (10-40 scale) can change, it’s still possible to end up with the same overall section score. A lot depends, for instance, on where the improvement lay, and how forgiving or unforgiving that particular curve was.
The March 2018 test had a much nicer curve for Math than June or Oct. My son missed 7 and ended up with a 740. Keep in mind that this also means he supposedly had harder questions than the later two administrations.
@JBStillFlying I’m going to type out the score breakdown so that I’m not misunderstanding anything (which is possible).
October 10: Reading–Incorrect answers, 9; Omitted answers, 1–Score: 33
August 28: Reading–Incorrect answers, 14; Omitted answers, 0–Score: 32
October 10: Writing–Incorrect answers, 4; Omitted answers, 0–Score:33
August 28: Writing–Incorrect answers, 8; Omitted answers, 0–Score 34
Scaled Score, Language Arts, both dates: 660
So even though he did better, it wasn’t enough. Writing seemed to be the problem since he did better and got a lower score!! He consistently did better (# of correct answers) on every SAT he took, so it was just a bit of a shock to see him continue to improve, but still have the same score this time around.
I’m mostly wondering if anyone has experience with the SAT that is administered to the entire senior class on a school day. Does the smaller pool of scores affect the scale? Wondering if there was any historical data? Most of these kids didn’t sign up for the 10/6 exam since the high school was offering it for free 4 days later. If it’s traditionally a tougher scale, I would advise my younger D to skip it when she’s a senior and take her chances with the paid version!
@Propinquity4444 Scoring scales are predetermined. The Oct 10 school day scoring scale is similar to June, October Saturday, and now November (from what I understand, all were also given as rare forms during the June administration). In contrast, August was a repeated test from last school year. With an easier test/harsher scale, careless mistakes are more costly. This seems especially true in the writing and math sections, where at the top of the scale, a single question can sometimes cost as much as 20-30 points off the section and composite scores. Gone are the days when a student could get an 800 in math with one wrong; I think I read that like June’s main scale, Oct 10 school day had -2 math = 750.
College Board seems to have made a purposeful decision to give slightly easier tests with harsher scales this school year. From following a lot of discussions, it seems that the tests have fluctuated in difficulty (at least as reflected in scales), medium during the first year, a little harder in reading during the second, and easier during the current third school year of the new test.
My own senior was glad to have secured a math score sufficient for her goals last fall. (Thank goodness for superscoring.) While she still netted a lot of improvement in ebrw this fall, -1 writing cost 20 pts.
@evergreen5 Thanks! So it has nothing to do with how many kids actually take the test? That’s good to know.
On this 10/10 exam a -2 on Math was a 750 because that’s what my S got, although I read in another post that -2 on Math was a 770 on the 10/6 exam four days earlier!
@Propinquity4444 For Nov 2017, -2 math = 790 and -4 writing = 36. Compared to Oct 10 school day 2018, collectively that’s a whopping 70 point difference in composite score for the same # wrong in math and writing on those two tests. But, reading would have been the same, -10 = 33.
As mentioned, scales are predetermined prior to the administration of the test. Degree of difficulty will vary so scales are adjusted via Equating to offset this difference. That’s why you can do better in terms of raw score but not in terms of scaled score. CB has determined that the writing section for that Oct school was notably easier than the Aug. test. So raw score improvements don’t necessarily signal genuine improvement on the test. This is the frustrating reality of the SAT.
I do recall the 2015 new PSAT and March 2016 new SAT both having very harsh writing curves as well.