Will the guinea pig class of 2017 (currently juniors) be given leniency on the New SAT scores?

Test Preparation
1

I’ve been curious about this for quite some time, and I wanted to know what you guys think.

I am going to graduate in 2017, which means my class will be the first to experience the new SAT change. We will be the first in a while to submit scores with the old scoring system. No one knows how colleges will consider scores (will they use a ratio with the old sat scoring system? Will they think a 1430 is the same as a, say, 2140?)

When I took the PSAT this year, I found it ridiculously easy. I then took several practice New SAT tests, and I was shocked at how well I did. I could not get out of the 2000 range for the old SAT, but I hit 1480 on the New SAT. Many of my friends (who, to take into consideration, were already scoring high on the old SAT) thought the same way. They all scored “higher” (if, again, you use the ratio method) on the New SAT.

I was worried that these “high scores” would not be considered high when compared with everyone else’s. But then I thought about how colleges do not have any past New SAT scores to compare to. Plus, the old SAT and new SAT scores will be coming in together on applications.

Even if people tend to score higher on the New SAT, do you guys believe that they will continue using the “ratio” to look at New SAT scores? Until they have a basis of how people typically scored on it? If so, then will the class of 2017 be given leniency on their New SAT scores?

I hope I did not sound native or confusing! I was just wondering about the possibility and the logic of the idea.

2

They’ll look at it this way: https://secure-media.collegeboard.org/digitalServices/pdf/sat/sat-percentile-ranks-composite-crit-reading-math-writing-2014.pdf

If the scores are high then the %iles will change by score. You’ll be competing against your peers taking the same test. This is why colleges have started to say they won’t superscore across tests.

3

@“Erin’s Dad” is right that what count are the percentiles of the scores. In addition, College Board will be publishing a concordance for old and new SAT scores (similar to the SAT/ACT concordance).

4

@“Erin’s Dad” @Plotinus Thank you for your responses! I understand the scoring process now.

5

Just my two cents: I’ve been seeing people score higher on the new SAT as well and I think it’s because the guessing penalty was removed.

If a student performs the exact same on the new SAT than on the old one, he would get a higher score just because he didn’t have points deducted for wrong answers.