Right. And S ended up at Bowdoin where they give the freshmen a quantitative test and use that, along with the math classes they took in high school, to place them into math classes.
Letâs remind again: itâs one metric. Not a sole derminant. Hard to call it a primary though it plays a role.
It helps to back up and think holistically. Just looking at results, entering class stats, doesnât tell you the rest of what got those kids in.
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Kids with good grades from unknown schools are doing just fine ED. Donât underestimate an admissions officerâs ability to sniff out talent.
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Of course. My point is that S19 is one student who is excellent in math (not completely off the charts but took MV in 12th grade and Bowdoin placed him out of that class to start in linear algebra) and he couldnât score higher than a 31 on the math ACT! Too fast. That score certainly does not show his math ability and heâs rocking it as a math major there and I think the math classes there are pretty challenging. The ACT no where near showed what heâs capable of.
All of these families traveling all over the place to try to get a test and why? To back up their transcript? But, if their transcript is strong enough (along with the rest of their app), they really shouldnât need a test score.
We have our own little experiment going on here with D21 so I canât wait to see how the chips fall.
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Well some schools have deflated grades. So a kid might want to showcase math talent like your kid, took advanced AP classes letâs say in Calc BC and Physics (letâs say got 5âs). But got a B+ in a class, letâs say Pre-Calc or something. But also got 800 SAT scores. Wouldnât that kid want to show his/her story?
Itâs basically the same story as your kid. You have a kid who know they are strong and wants to show that to the AOâs. Hereâs what I can do and here is the picture. Your kid didnât need the SAT to do that. Some kids test really well and some donât. Some kids need to show the perfect/near perfect SAT score and top Math scores ( maybe Subject tests or AIME). They can demonstrate how they do that way.
Some schools only give out a small number of Aâs and donât scale. Who knows maybe the kid got a single bad test score and ended up with a B+/A-.
My kids test really highly on standardized tests(have gotten perfect math scores) and usually are in the top 1% overall. They would travel all over the place to get a test if needed because itâs part of their story. Might not be needed for a kid who doesnât do standard tests well. But thatâs for them to decide.
Sounds like your kid used another way to tell his/her story. Thatâs fine.
Itâs sad for kids this year who need the SAT to tell THEIR story. Some wonât be able to do so. Iâm glad my kid was able to take the PSAT in Oct. It matters. Maybe not to every kid but to some kids, standardized tests matter a lot.
We know a kid who went to a state college on a national merit. Parents were low income. Kid started a masters at MIT this year. To that kid, the PSAT mattered ( a lot).
So, yes, they are backing up their transcript to show that the school doesnât inflate grades, they can do the work, whatever. Basically, they need the score to tell their story.
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Agree. The math section or the subject test are meaningless, other than to flag someone with potential deficiency that might need more careful scrutiny in that area. If a student canât score 800 on these tests routinely with a little bit of care, s/he picked a wrong school.
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All things equal, Iâm taking the student who doesnât make the mistakes. There are so many applicants to top colleges that you have to have some way to distinguish a pool of applicants who are all top performers.
You can make the same argument on passing your medical boards or the bar exam. Some test takers will make a few careless errors and it might push them to fail the exam where the test taker who doesnât make careless errors passes.
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Well again at MIT, Cal Tech, theyâre just a lot more transparent, no legacies, athletes, institutional needs, they may give a slight preference to women, and urm, first gen could be hooks, but by and large, if you establish yourself as one of the top hs students in stem, youâll do fine there. Not guarantee admission of course but good chance.
On the scores, you should note that kids that get above a 750 in Math SAT get in at 10x the ones below 750M, and there is no doubt that scores determine who applies to MIT, maybe not who gets in.
Well here in the bay area, if youâre Asian, youâre going to need a test score, especially if you scored high enough on the PSAT to be semi-finalist. Colleges know that you took the confirming sat or act the same time, so you need a test score to submit. If the score in fall of jr year is not good for the selective colleges, you have to take it somewhere, even if it means leaving CA. If you want to discuss the expectations for Asians from bay area, we can certainly do on the race thread.
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This is one of the reasons why colleges like MIT consider more factors in admission than just GPA and test scores. You donât have to overemphasize what could be a few careless errors on a test that in no way resembles MIT math, taken on one particular day during HS. Instead you can look at a pattern of excelling in and a passion for math/science over a period extending for years â both in and out of the classroom. For schools like MIT/Caltech, there are many better ways to show math/science excellence than just SAT score in isolation.
This does not mean SAT score has zero value. However, I doubt much predictive ability is lost by removing SAT score at schools like MIT/Caltech. Caltechâs choice to go test blind rather than test optional for the next 2 years makes me expect Caltech believes the same.
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Not sure what you are talking about.
My daughter is a PSAT semifinalist from the bay area and could not find any place to test. PSAT have dropped the requirement for confirming SAT/ACT because many like my daughter were not able to provide it.
Intrigued. Please say more.
Typically, students study for both psat and sat since theyâre similar tests and both are given in Sept/Oct of jr year, in this case before the pandemic set in, so they could have taken it in Oct or even Dec. Not only for the confirming score, but also to get the sat/act out of the way if they do well.
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I donât know whatâs typical, but the most popular SAT test date around here is the March test. And thatâs also according to the local test prep companies as well.
D18 took her SAT March of Junior year. D21 had planned for March 2020 as her test date as well. Iâm sure itâll depend on locale, because the NMSF designation isnât really a âthingâ around here.
But thatâs just because weâre talking about MIT type colleges, the kid getting a 720M may not get into MIT but will get in other really good places and who knows, may be end up a doctor, gasp!
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I spent my first two years of high school abroad, and I had a terrible GPA, probably 2.9. I explained my excruciating circumstances on my applications, though. After I moved to the states, throughout my junior year, I got a 4.3 and 4.55, and for the first semester of my senior year, I got a 4.7. Since I have a good set of extracurriculars, my college admissions position is reliant on how I display my academic ability. I have done so with my GPA, but since I used to get anywhere between 1480 and 1590 on the SAT, I believe I will be disadvantaged, mainly because there are many like me, competent kids who havenât had the chance, and others who are just bad test-takers. Thus, many applications will gain more heat and attain solid acceptances, whereas, in past years, they wouldâve been thrown in the bin straight away.
Thatâs not âtypicalâ for our bay area school. The PSAT is taken in October of junior year and then the first SAT in March of junior year.
So our kids were out of luck, as the March test was pulled the day before it was to be administered.
Some kids take the SAT for NM purposes and the ACT because the school high school offers it.
An NMSF can use either SAT or ACT score as a confirming score in order to become finalist. S/he doesnât have to take the other test (ACT score would be sufficient). Also, for the two colleges we were discussing, NM status does nothing for the applicant.
In previous years only the SAT would work. And the $2.5K scholarship can be used anywhere.