SAT concordance table - compare old and new SAT scores

@evergreen5 that makes sense. I guess that’s why many people were warned not to take the new SAT? Because of a lot of different unknowns, of which this thread has exposed many!

An interesting point I saw while reading an analysis on Compass prep mentioned a student’s relative standing within a test. “A student with a 90th percentile score on the SAT will still have a 90th percentile score on the SAT and will be in the exact same competitive environment with fellow SAT takers pre- or post- new concordance.”

^What Compass says is true, which is why it’s important to consult each college’s published stats. However, it’s also worth noting that percentiles are always backward looking - they are not actual. Percentiles on current score reports are lifted straight from the document Understanding Scores 2017 published last Sept (when that class was already at college), which includes actual percentiles for class of 2017. It remains to be seen whether College Board will be publishing new percentiles for Class of 2018 this fall.

“it seems much more common to hear about 34s, 35s, and 36s than to hear about 1480+ scores. In the end, it probably doesn’t make much of a difference but I wonder if that 1480+ might stand out a bit more. This is of course not fact based, but I also think a 1500 would look better than a 35 just because we see so many more 35s”

@evergreen5 No, a 1500 does not look better than a 35! Even in the new concordance a 1500 = 34.

And I disagree with your first statement too. CC is not an appropriate sample size and it’s entirety anicdotal data. The bias towards SAT is clear because your child scored a very high old SAT. And college board released a garbage PSAT and SAT that was not ready and have screwed people over on scholarship money and admissions because of it.

I understand that. But, I’m assuming percentiles that were included in the score report to be accurate at the time of testing. In other words, the percentiles given at the FEB 2018 ACT sitting will be what it is.

@NovaMom93 I don’t know about ACT. But for SAT, no, that is not quite how the percentiles work - the percentiles are attached to a score number. The score number is determined per the particular predetermined scoring scale for that version of the test. All currently reported SAT percentiles are not actual; they come from the percentiles published in Sept 2017 - in other words, all scores for all versions of the test from last August to today have the same percentiles for the same scores. In theory, they should be accurate if the score scaling (equating) process is correct, but the percentiles may change this fall, retroactively, as last fall - we’ll see.

@suzyQ7 I think you meant that feedback for me, not @evergreen5.

I said in my post that my opinion was not fact based…but it’s still my gut feeling. I have been watching the stats more than just what people post on CC, although I have been watching CC a lot.

A student could send both the 1500 and the 35 and technically you are right the 35 is “higher” based on the new and old charts. I just still think the 1500 looks better or at least just as strong. And based on some of the scores some schools have posted for their admitted students, it seems like they have been accepting kids with lower SAT scores than ACT scores. Let’s see when we finally have 2018 stats how they stack up against each other.

Up until this morning a 1500 concordat to a 33 (but now 34) so I’m not sure why you think/thought it looks just as strong as a 35. 34 is a big ACT threshold, and a 1500 concordimg to a 33 (up until today) put kids I’m a different category for scholarships and admissions. Kudos to you and me for not relying on the new SAT in 2017, but unfortunate for those who did.

I can see why admission officers were confused during the class of 2017 admission cycle with what was coming through for SAT scores. Kids who took the old SATs looked like rock stars compared to the ones that took the new one. I’m sure many were hurt by it.

I wonder what data the college admissions office is using that wants to see over a 1400 on the SAT or a 34 or higher on the ACT? (Post#720)

That’s exactly my point @suzyQ7…that the tables weren’t accurate and weren’t used as linearly as one might have expected.

There are no hard facts with this analysis because there are so many different variables. There is a lot of guessing based on perception of what’s actually happening when decisions are made in admissions offices.

I still have the opposite OPINION of you that one should go with ACT over SAT if your scores were on par. I think SAT would “look” better, for reasons based on my small window of observing reality. I am not the only one to think this, but I’m sure there are many people that think the ACT is the better choice. In the end, as I previously said, I don’t think it matters that much in the end anyway.

The main reason I think SAT might be the better choice is because it just seems that there are less people that do well on it (for now, they may crack the code as more practice tests become available) so one might stand out more with a high SAT score than a high ACT score, especially since the SAT takers might only be compared with other SAT takers…and so on. This is the main point of my argument.

@evergreen5 No clue about SAT, but I did not notice for the ACT, the current national percentile rankings are for 2015-2017. Since the ACT test has not changed, I don’t see a reason why the percentile ranking would change for 2018.

One school that I watch is the Kelley School of Business at Indiana. They have GPA cut-offs for direct admit which is pretty much the only way to get into the business school (I think it’s hard to transfer in). They have a GPA cutoff and score cutoffs. This past year, the ACT cut off was a 30 and the SAT was a 1390. I’m going to follow up with them periodically now that we have these new tables to see if they change the score cut offs. My son won’t be applying this year, but possibly next year.

For the record, if you make these cut offs you are automatically admitted. If you don’t and you are close, you can appeal it. I know of a girl (Class of 2017) who exceeded the GPA by plenty but her SAT score was 20 points too low. She appealed and she did get in.

I have a 2019-er coming up in the application cycle. I’m trying to think of reasons how the new tables would change the college game plan and list of colleges. DC has already finished testing (ACT, SAT, SAT2s).

Since colleges report SAT and ACT separately (25/75 percentiles), the new concordance tables wouldn’t raise or lower these scores at all. As previously mentioned, the percentile rankings within each test stays the same (unless changed by CB or ACT)

Can you think of a reason why the tables would affect your DC19’s college app plan?

No, but it might be difficult to get the accurate data to determine the most recent score ranges. This last class was the first to pretty much only use the NEW SAT. And we are not sure when we are going to see all of the schools’ ranges of their accepted students from this past cycle. The data is probably there somewhere…if not updated on their admissions website yet, you might be able to find it in a college newsletter, etc. So you might have to spend more time digging to make sure you have the right numbers for this last class, which I think will be the most relevant info of all in this debate.

If you can’t find the score ranges on their websites or anywhere else, I’m sure you could call the schools and see if they will tell you verbally.

I doubt it will change much for class of 2023, because the best we will have are 2022 stats when they are posted early in the fall. I think the answer lies in whether colleges use the new table. It appeared that some colleges did not use the 2016 table in admissions decisions and that was the first clue that it was off. However, that 2016 table was not a rigorously-created concordance, unlike this one. I wonder whether colleges will take another look and whether it will take one more year’s worth of stats (2023) for there to be some stability in SAT scores. (ACT scores reported by colleges seem relatively stable by comparison, such that it may be easier to judge one’s relative competitive position for purposes of determining reaches, matches and safeties.) While this fall’s seniors are not entirely flying blind, the score situation for SATs may still seem a tad hazy.

I keep thinking the same thing @NovaMom93 as I have a 2019er and he’s only take the ACT (34) and again on June 9 so we’ll see if he did better next week. I doesn’t change our game plan I don’t think, but I’m not even sure.

^I don’t think this is about ACTs at all but rather how the New SAT scores are perceived, with ACT being the yardstick.

Colleges are far more likely to use this new concordance than they were the old. This one has the stamp of approval from both parties.

@collegemomjam I found the Kelley direct admit for my daughter because she was looking for a safety option with an undergraduate business option. Her first choice is UVa but hoping for assured admission to Kenan-Flagler as another option.
She qualifies for Kelley on both fronts, so that’s her and my kind of safety. It boggles my mind why her guidance counselor wasn’t aware of the direct admit and I had to find it. I’m thinking about starting to have my patient’s do their own root canals…

@Cavitee I’m going to private message you about some things that might not apply to this thread.