What is a good SAT 1 score?

<p>Hi all,
I am looking forward to applying to a few ivies. What exactly is a good SAT 1 score when considering ivies, or other top schools for that matter??</p>

<p>Does it matter what a "good" score is? If I told you that anything above a 2250 is a good score, would that make you happy? What if I told you anything above a 2000 is a good score? Doesn't matter what a "good" score is.</p>

<p>it all depends on what you expect of yourself and where you want to go for school. If your goal is to get a 1950 and you get a 2010, then you did good. If your goal was to get a 1500 and you got a 1520, you did good from your perspective.</p>

<p>Obviously this question is relative. Like many here, I feel bad when kids would ask my SAT score and I'd be like, "It's only a 2160." A majority responded to that with a joking, "Ugh, I hate you! Only a 2160..." After I retook the test and received an even higher score, I try to avoid the question like the plague. If I do respond, I feel like I'm boasting even if I was deliberately asked.</p>

<p>Considering how I've been conditioned, going to school with less-than-stellar test takers, I think 1900 is a "good" score. I think "impressive" starts at 2100, and "great/awesome/your favorite superlative" starts at 2250.</p>

<p>You want to know? Go to each school's website and look at the stats of their incoming freshmen. I think College Board has a place where you can check this things out. It's all relative.</p>

<p>I agree with Handyandy58's generalization and anecdote... Been there.</p>

<p>i find that yea, it has alot to do with the people at your school. at my school, the top 10% score >2200, so 2250 isnt too special...sigh</p>

<p>Well, he's asking specifically about the Ivy League SAT scores. I can't tell you what is "good" per se, but I can give you the SAT averages for each of the Ivies:</p>

<p>Brown = 2150
Columbia = 2100
Cornell = 2080*
Dartmouth = 2170*
Harvard = 2230
Pennsylvania = 2120
Princeton = 2210
Stanford (he's wearing a fake mustache, so pretend he's an Ivy) = 2150
Yale = 2230</p>

<p>*Writings scores are not reported, so I assumed that they were c.10 points less than the CR scores.</p>

<p>These are the averages of the CURRENT ENROLLING freshman class, NOT THOSE ADMITTED. The averages will for those admitted will be slightly higher, except for HYPS, for which the difference will be negligible. </p>

<p>Keep in mind that these are Ivies, and so those who are at or below the average will most likely have other "catch" factors, such as extraordinary EC's or brides to the admissions office. If you don't have any of the aforementioned, then aim HIGHER than these averages.</p>

<p>Not that it matters all that much anyway - SATs test how well you can take a test and nothing else. They have no correlation to how well you will do in college or how intelligent you are. Many colleges - even very prestigious ones are starting to come around to this fact.
Think of it as a game and you won't have to deal with feeling boa****l or insufficiant when scores come out. You played the game well or its really not for you - either way if a college can't see that, then you have to ask your self if its really some where you want to be.
As a reference these colleges either do not allow or do not require SATs</p>

<p>Sarah Lawrence
Bard
UCLA
Bennington College
Goucher College
Hampshire College</p>

<p>A comprenhensive list can be found here: SAT/ACT</a> Optional 4-Year Universities</p>

<p>Sorry if this doesn't help you since you want the glitter of the ivies - but in all honesty maybe you should consider looking beyond the name of the college/university (whether or not it has Ivy Status) and more at which one is right for YOU. Just don't confine yourself to what sounds good to others.</p>

<p>Peace</p>

<p>MH</p>

<p>UCLA doesn't reuire SAT 1 (you can use ACT), but it does require SAT 2.</p>

<p>Not that it matters all that much anyway - SATs test how well you can take a test and nothing else. They have no correlation to how well you will do in college or how intelligent you are</p>

<p>With all due respect that is a comment I totally disagree with. NO the SAT does not prove anything about your test taking skills and it is widely agreed that yes, it does offer a glimpse into the type of learner you are and to some degree your aptitude to perform college level work. While its not an IQ test, clearly there is a correlation between intelligence and being very successful on this test. My older son is a great testtaker, and does well on tests in geneal but did not fare well on the SAT, as his brother did who is not a good test taker but scored very well on the SAT. I respect your opinion but completely disagree with that comment. Yes you are right there is a movement with some colleges to make it optional or not to require it at all but personally I think its going to be a long time before you see that happening with the major Ivy's and major private colleges and universities. It is the one common barameter with which to measure each student against each other in an exact and equal method. </p>

<p>Rearset44 in answer to your question...........</p>

<p>The nation's average SAT hovers around 1540, GOOD is considered about a 1890-1950. VERY GOOD is about a 1950-2090, OUTSTNDING is about a 2090-2190 and OVER THE TOP is 2190 and above. Again you must realize that on this board, this is not a fair representation of "average" students, this is an exceptional group of highly motivated and accomplished students. The average here is far higher than the nations' average. Hope this helps a bit...good luck to you.</p>

<p>Regarding the validity of the SAT test--This from fairtest.org:</p>

<p>The SAT I is designed to predict first-year college grades - it is not validated to predict grades beyond the freshman year, graduation rates, pursuit of a graduate degree, or for placement or advising purposes. However, according to research done by the tests' manufacturers, class rank and/or high school grades are still both better predictors of college performance than the SAT I.
How well does the SAT I predict first-year college grades? The College Board and ETS conduct periodic studies of the SAT I. This usually involves examining the relationship between test scores and first-year college grades, generally expressed as the correlation coefficient (or r value). The College Board's Handbook for the SAT Program 2000-2001 claims the SAT-V and SAT-M have a correlation of .47 and .48, respectively, with freshman GPA (FGPA). This number is deceptive, however. To determine how much of the difference in first-year grades between students the SAT I really predicts, the correlation coefficient must be multiplied by itself. The result, called r squared, describes the difference (or variation) among college freshman grades. Thus, the predictive ability (or r squared) of the SAT I is just .22, meaning the test explains only 22% of the variation in freshman grades. With a correlation of .54, high school grades alone do a better job, explaining almost 30% of the variance in first-year college performance.</p>

<p>What do the SAT I validity studies from major colleges and universities show?<br>
Validity research at individual institutions illustrates the weak predictive ability of the SAT. One study (J. Baron & M. F. Norman in Educational and Psychology Measurement, Vol. 52, 1992) at the University of Pennsylvania looked at the power of high school class rank, SAT I, and SAT II in predicting cumulative college GPAs. Researchers found that the SAT I was by far the weakest predictor, explaining only 4% of the variation in college grades, while SAT II scores accounted for 6.8% of the differences in academic performance. By far the most useful tool proved to be class rank, which predicted 9.3% of the changes in cumulative GPAs. Combining SAT I scores and class rank inched this figure up to 11.3%, leaving almost 90% of the variation in grades unexplained.</p>

<p>Uhhh....I thought most schools wanted either SAT or ACT.</p>

<p>@ the OP: an average score is 1500, a good score is 1800, a competitive score is 2100, a perfect score is 2400 (and it doesn't even have to be perfect, you can miss a few questions)</p>

<p>like the above people said, it's all relative.</p>

<p>I agree with many of the above posts that what constitutes a good score is relative. If I got a 1000/2400 and you got a 1200/2400, I'd think you got a good score because you did better than me. But is 1200 really good?</p>

<p>A better way to look at it is by the percentiles. 1505/2400 is 50th percentile, so anything over that is better than average. But will this help you get into a top college?
Here are some percentile breakpoints:</p>

<p>1505 - 50th Percentile
1800 - 81st Percentile
1930 - 90th Percentile
2050 - 95th Percentile
2130 - 97th Percentile
2200 - 99th Percentile</p>

<p>What's clear by looking at average scores in post #8 above for the elite schools and their respective percentiles is that these schools are looking for the top 1 or 2% of all students in the country!</p>

<p>Let's keep things in perspective. An 1800 is better that 81% of all students and a 1930 is better than 90% of all students. Any student with those scores will get into an excellent college and receive a first rate education!</p>

<p>If you come from a pretty good high school, a good SAT for HYPSM is 2300 or above, or a 35+. For the other ivies, it's 2200+, 34+.</p>

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