SAT concordance table - compare old and new SAT scores

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

S19 took only one test - SAT - and got a 1530. He basically believed he was at a 34 and now he’s “officially” just inside a 35 with a 36 E and R and a 33 Math. That’s actually helpful information and might prompt him to toss another reach into the mix or consider applying non-binding to an elite. Haven’t had the chance to connect with him about this so it’ll be interesting to hear his thoughts. He’ll have some.

@JBStillFlying that’s such great news! Keep us posted, I’m glad to hear that this helped him just in time for applications.

Ugh. I posted an update in my other thread about having advised my daughter that there was no reason to take ACT again with a 34. Now I’m second guessing myself. This entire process is giving me agita.

@gallentjill A 34 is still 99th percentile for the ACT. However, taking it twice may open up superscoring possibilites. My DC took the ACT and improved in 2 sections. I know this doesn’t happen for everyone, but it was helpful for DC and now most of the college list includes colleges that superscore the ACT. Best of luck!

@gallentjill I don’t think this chart should affect any kids who took the ACT. If you are looking at ACT ranges for schools then just make your decisions based on that.

Noticed Emory’s press release regarding their class of 2022 said average SAT was 1500. But in parentheses it says based on SAT and ACT equivalents of accepted students. This is intersteing because with the old concordance table a 33 ACT was equivalent to a 1500. Now that 33 is equivalent to a 1450 so Emory’s 2023 numbers should be significantly different (40 - 50 SAT points)

This falls in line with what my kid got last spring - 1540 SAT, 35.35 ACT. Both with similar amount of preparation.

@Cavitee that’s very interesting about Emory. I might call them and ask them about that and if they are aware of the new tables.

Sounds obvious that they would be aware, but you never know. I was at a Tufts admissions presentation a few years back and sought out the admissions counselor who did the presentation. He had mentioned in the presentation that Tufts would only accept the new SAT for the class of 2017, which as you all know was the class that had a mix of old and new SAT takers. This policy was spelled out clearly on their website too.

I explained to him that they might want to reconsider that because being Tufts attracts many top applicants, many of them also applying to Ivies, they might not bother applying to Tufts if they think they have to go take another test. I pointed out that the types of kids applying to Tufts and Ivies likely included many kids who tested on the early side to get the old SAT in like my daughter. There was no way in hell my daughter was going to take another SAT test, let alone the new one, especially since she had a great score on the old one. He actually completely agreed with me and they changed the policy literally the next day, website and all. They didn’t want to lose applicants.

Emory and other schools need to make sure they adjust because that 1500 might deter some applicants from applying because they think their score is too low. If they see a 1450, they may think differently. They may prefer to look more selective, too, so who knows.

Obviously Kelley’s admission’s people are aware of the new concordance table. They removed the direct admit target GPA and test scores for the class of 2019 from their website and are re-evaluating them.
The numbers were 3.8 GPA and a 30 ACT or 1390 SAT, it will be interesting to see what tweaks are made

https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/pdf/guide-2018-act-sat-concordance.pdf
The data underlying the new 2018 tables comes only from Class of 2021 and is already over a year old. So, the data underlying the new 2018 tables occurred prior to the time that College Board apparently (according to widespread internet observations) increased the difficulty in the reading section beginning Aug 2017 (as in, one passage noticeably more difficult).

^^ You mean the curves were more harsh or people were missing more and getting the same scaled score?

I recall that internet chatter. My son took the March 2018 test and I swear it had the same curving as my daughter’s test two years prior (March 2016 so the inaugural test), at least in their particular portion of the distribution. So if there was a change, they re-tweaked at some point again later on.

Our son’s SAT concorded to a point higher ACT than the old tables indicated, which is about what I thought would happen. Not an exact science but still a helpful tool.

^ I assume the curves were at least attempting to adjust for the difficulty change, but in our house, there was a significant score difference on that section between actual and a previously-administered practice test taken immediately before the actual test. As far as I understand, differences in difficulty should be slighter than they were, regardless of how accurately it is curved.

Interesting. I wonder if that one test was an outlier. My son used all eight practice exams for PSAT and SAT prep and he thought the math curves were way different compared to actual, especially on the first four which weren’t based on an actual test. But reading and writing seemed like what he was expecting. Perhaps they were able to shake out the glitches by 2018. You are correct that the level of difficulty should not vary so much from test to test. This need not be like the old SAT. Still I thought that the curves are adjusted so that no one is penalized or advantaged due just to an outlier test.