<p>Is it predetermined or not? Im hearing different things and im wondering if anyone has actual proof whether it is or isnt</p>
<p>Not predetermined b/c that’s not what “curve” means.</p>
<p>it doesnt matter tho. CB has been around for over 100 yrs. They know what questions kids r most likely to get wrong or not. I have no doubt that they have the resources to predetermine the score…and if when the scores come in there is a noticable discrepancy between the predetermined and what should be curve, they would change it</p>
<p>no its def not predetermined…ur wrong…the capability to predetermine has nothing to do with what a curve is…the whole point is to measure that specific date, with those specific questions</p>
<p>millancad is right…plus so what if they’ve been around for a “hundred years” the SAT hasnt and neither has any of the systems they use today…</p>
<p>The equating sections are used to ensure that the ability level of the individual testing group doesn’t affect the curve. If it did, there would be no point in having a curve anyway, since the whole point of the curve is to be able to compare scores across testing dates.</p>
<p>The curve IS predetermined. The College Board uses a method called equating to determine the difficulty of each question and create the curve before the test is even administered. </p>
<p>You guys really underestimate the College Board. They spend millions every year tuning the SAT to perfection.</p>
<p>You can read about equating here: [Equating</a> - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equating]Equating”>Equating - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>Edit: I also think it’s ridiculous that some people claim that one month’s test is more “difficult” than another month’s test. The questions may be more difficult, but the difficulty of getting a certain score (e.g. an 800 or 700) will always be the same.</p>
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<p>So collegeboard came up with a curve 100 years ago and has used it every test?</p>
<p>xD</p>
<p>Naw, the point is, that some tests are harder than others–the collegeboard just doesn’t KNOW THAT.</p>
<p>They attempt to equate the difficulty of ALL tests so they are the same. But at times, it doesn’t work out, so they CURVE it so it IS the same.</p>
<p>If collegeboard already KNEW that a test was harder than another one, then they would simply change it so that it WAS the same difficulty as another one…</p>
<p>@Housecat, it is not correct to say that the curve is pre-determined. The CB needs the test results of the non-scored sections on the SAT in order to determine the scaling (the “curve”) of raw to final scores. This process can’t be done ahead of time: the people taking the equating sections have to be the same as the people taking the rest of the test. The difficulty of the test does vary a bit; the curve is designed to compensate for that. The difficulty of getting, say, 52 math questions right may vary, but the curve corrects for that variation so that a 750 on one test means the same ability level as the 750 on any other test.</p>
<p>The details are in [this</a> CB whitepaper](<a href=“http://professionals.collegeboard.com/profdownload/pdf/rn14_11427.pdf]this”>Higher Education Professionals | College Board).</p>