@woodlandsmom Retaking the SAT in that scenario would be pointless. There’s no need to focus on both tests if there’s such a huge discrepancy between ACT/SAT scores (a 33 is 99th percentile, while an 1810 is 82nd percentile). Your son should basically just forget about the SAT entirely, because it isn’t going to help him.
@miter94 But that is exactly the point!
If you show the right scale, 0 to 800 for instance, then a 5 point drop looks very different than if you only showed the scale of 400-600 for instance. It looks less meaningful on the correct scale, because it IS less meaningful than what would be implied by a much smaller scale.
Try this. my weight has fluctuated from 160-165 over a six month period.
If I gain 2 pounds at thanksgiving, that gain is insignificant in light of my total weight, but would look big and scary and significant in light of my weight during a 6 month period.
I agree the events in June affected the scores. Unfortunately, I was one of the students who took that SAT!
It’s true that more urban school districts are taking it. In some urban schools in NJ, it’s required to graduate. In my high school, most students take it (for free), although they don’t plan on attending college.
Yes, a lot of kids can take it for free, and a lot of kids are pushed to take it whether or not they want to go to college.
I was talking to someone who worked at an urban charter school, and he said the principal told him “100% of our graduates must go to college” and of course, he meant directly after high school. It is so unacceptable to put that kind of pressure on kids. Some of whom would be better off learning a trade.
Our district has free PSAT for juniors, to get everyone to take it.
I know a lot of people also found the science section challenging on the ACT test. A lot of kids are never exposed to real graphs or taught how to really interpret data. Even though I’m generally comfortable with this, it still takes me a bit more time than I’m given to do so on the ACT.
I think the ACT Science section is great, but I think they need to do it in a more realistic way. Give a real abstract, short introduction, materials and methods, then present the data. Throwing 2-3 graphs with 2-3 variables on each graph or table with minimal background info on the topic is ridiculous. Not how it works in the real world at all.
If you look at the latest ACT composite scores, a 33 has a score of 99, meaning he performed better than 99% of ACT test-takers most recently profiled–a higher percentile than his 1810 SAT score. The SAT as it stands now and the ACT are very different tests, requiring different preparation. Colleges generally view the 2 tests equally, with the ACT carrying market share. This might be a case where it’s better for your son to continue to focus on his grades and producing thorough, thoughtful applications, than scrambling for a few more points on a standardized test. HTH
@SouthernHope Exactly more students than ever encouraged to take the SAT even charged reduced or no fees.
They need to include the number of test takers to see those differences
The SAT changes are making it more like the ACT. Looks like they’re trying to reverse the trends of the previous years and bring the SAT back to the forefront.
If we look at the last three SAT revisions, there is a definite trend towards making the vocabulary easier and/or the verbal scores higher
1995: Recentering of curve gives an automatic bonus of 100 points to verbal scores. Differentiation between 700 and 800 eliminated. Not useful.
2005: Analogies eliminated. Remember those? You had to know all those big words and how to relate their meanings out of context. Too much logic. Not useful.
2016: Sentence completions eliminated. Excessive verbiage. Not useful.
2025: Text passages eliminated. Too much reading. Not useful. Replaced by youtube videos.
Not surprising, at my public high school scores have consistently averaged at about 1650 for the past 10 years and last year the average was a 1500!!
That depends. Are you talking about the scale or raw score. I could see the raw score going down, but the scaled scores will stay relatively stable, as they are put on a Gaussian distribution standardized to a mean of 1500.
@Watang Could you please explain that?
I have a doubt.
I always get the lowest scores in Reading section during any practice test I take. I get close to 800 in Math, and and also a scaled score of about 68-72/80 and 8-10 on Essay. An average of getting 70 on MCQ and 9-10 on Essay will still give me around 700-710 on writing. But I usually get mid 600s in Reading, mainly due to Vocab.
So on average I can expect 800 + 700 + 650 = 2150-ish.
Do you think I should improve on my Writing more (I believe easier since I just have to memorize grammar rules), and try to get 80 on Grammar to get around 790, or improve on my vocab (bit tougher, since vocab is endless!) and get around 700 in Reading.
I am aiming for 2250-2300 range from my current of 2150-ish, and I understand I need to work on both writing and grammar, but which approach will help more? I have 10 days to my SAT now, and doing last minute preparation.
the funniest thing about this is the range on the graphs. they made those graphs to look like there was a huge decline in scores; but in reality the difference between a 497 and a 484 is literally one question.
What colleges is he applying for? 33 is quite superior, so send that score to colleges. Unless he is going for Harvard, Stanford or similar, 33 is great!
Y axis should not start at zero, because it’s impossible to score zero on the test.