SAT December 2018 Harsh Score!! + How to fix it!

Test Preparation SAT Preparation
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Hello everyone. I just got my December 2018 SAT scores back and got a 1390. Many of you must also be disappointed with your scores, too.

I got a 53/58 in Math and that got me 700 points! Apparently, if I had gotten 54/58 in math instead, I would have gotten 730 points, how outrageous is that, one question being worth 30 points??

I got a 47/52 in Reading and 40/44 in Writing, and that gave me 690 points. My friend, on the other hand, got 35/52 in Reading and 42/44 in Writing. Although I am aware this is not how it is calculated, but I got 10 more questions right than he did, and he got 650 points! One math point can be worth 30 points, while 10 questions on the english section is worth 40 points. Seriously??? This “equating process” was so harsh.

For another unit of comparison, I did another SAT in which I got a 1400, and my scores were: 46/52 in Reading, 37/44 in Writing, and 49/58 in Math. I got lower scores in every section on my previous SAT by a large margin and still got a better score on the previous SAT! I am aware that College Board “equates” grades based on how “easy” the test was, but this is simply crazy.

I am sure others are going through the same situation I am, so here’s a potential solution. Let’s complain. If enough of us do it, it could grab enough attention. It certainly doesn’t hurt to try. They have no right to mess with out futures in this way because of a their “equating”.

Here is the email I will send to ______ . Feel free to copy it, it’ll show them we are in this together! If these mass complaints go viral, we could make a difference. Please share this with everyone who has a problem; we have a voice! Please!

BEGINNING OF EMAIL:

Hello College Board,

My name is (name here) and I am (grade level + school). I took the SAT on December 1st, 2018 and I am writing a complaint regarding the SAT multiple choice scores that I received on the 15th of December. As I am sure you can understand, the SAT is crucial in a student’s admission chances. I believe the equating method was extremely harsh and does not represent my deserved score. Allow me to explain why (for anyone copying this, you should probably use your own examples by comparing yourself to your friends, own past scores etc. as to why the equating is harsh):

I got a 1390 on my December 1st 2018 SAT and a 1400 on my December 2 2017 SAT. On my 2017 SAT, my scores were: 46/52 in Reading, 37/44 in Writing, and 49/58 in Math. For my 2018 SAT, my scores were 47/52 in Reading (better than 2017), 40/44 in Writing (much better than 2017), and 53/58 in Math (much better than 2017). Yet, my scores were 10 points lower in 2018!

If my 2018 SAT Math section was a 54/58 instead of a 53/58, my score would have been 730 points, instead of the 700 I have now. One question is worth 30 points, according to this. I got a 47/52 in Reading and 40/44 in Writing, and that gave me 690 points. My friend, on the other hand (who also took in in December 2018), got 35/52 in Reading and 42/44 in Writing. Although I am aware this is not how it is calculated, I got 10 more questions right than he did, and he got 650 points! One math point can be worth 30 points, while 10 questions on the english section is worth 40 points (my 690 versus his 650). Surely there is something wrong.

I am fully aware of the equating method that the College Board employs, and I fully support it. However, I believe that this one may have been a bit too severe? I am asking you to please re-evaluate the method of scoring for the December 2018 SAT. If you wish to know more examples as to why I believe the grading was harsh this time around, I am more than happy to prolong this discussion.

The time for action is now. It is never too late to do something. (I particularly think we should all end with this statement, it’ll show unity and show that they can still change our scores!)

END OF EMAIL

Let’s all do this, we just might make a difference. Make this go viral, repost it, share it with friends, parents, classmates.

THE TIME FOR ACTION IS NOW. IT IS NEVER TOO LATE TO DO SOMETHING.

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My son was equally insulted that he didn’t get as high a score on the October SAT. He wrote a letter and they responded. They won’t do anything, but good luck!

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Sign up for the ACT, they care way more about $ than emails.

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“I got a 47/52 in Reading and 40/44 in Writing, and that gave me 690 points. My friend, on the other hand, got 35/52 in Reading and 42/44 in Writing. Although I am aware this is not how it is calculated, but I got 10 more questions right than he did, and he got 650 points! One math point can be worth 30 points, while 10 questions on the english section is worth 40 points. Seriously???”

The EBRW score is not computed from the sum of the raw scores from Reading and Writing, so saying you got 10 more correct in total is irrelevant. You did 12-better on one section and 2-worse on another. Those results are going to be scaled accordingly and the scaled scores AVERAGED.

Example: let’s say your scaled scores were 35 on Reading and 34 on Writing - that’s a 690 EBRW since you average the two scaled scores and multiply by 20. Your friend might have done lot worse on reading, say a 30, and a bit better on Writing, say, a 35. That’s a 650 EBRW. So you can see how a large raw score difference on the EBRW can translate into something that’s not quite as impressive. Your reading score, stand-alone, would have been worth 100 more points than your friend’s! ((35-30)20 = 100), but it’s averaged with Writing and there you came up short: ((34-35)20) = -20. The average of 100 and -20 is 40, which is the difference between your EBRW and your friend’s.

Math is different, as the two sections are not averaged but cumulated. And it’s also a completely different scale than either Reading or Writing.

That’s the design of this particular test. They have their reasons for averaging the verbal and cumulating the math.

“This “equating process” was so harsh.”

While large swings in difficulty and corresponding scales can be frustrating and/or a sign of poor test construction, blaming the equating methodology is pointless unless you know for a fact that it’s somehow incorrect. And comparing raw scores across tests is meaningless unless you can show that the section was, in fact, of EQUIVALENT difficulty for the two administrations. Good luck with that!

It’s understandable to be disappointed in finding out that you are a 14xx SAT tester when you wanted to score 30+ points higher. Been there. But that’s actually very helpful information for you as you can now choose your college list accordingly and move on to other aspects of your application. Good Luck!

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It’s too late.

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@JBStillFlying has it