@peachActuary73 There’s a whole thread on this topic. I don’t know how to make a link but it should be easy to find. Beware, though…lots of data on that thread!
Looks like good news for the kids who scored in the 1500s and didn’t feel like taking the ACT! I would be curious to see if the changes to the SAT have led to smaller gaps between scores for kids who take both tests.
S19 had almost equivalent scores that are even closer now, but he can still just send his one ACT score if he ever figures out where he is applying.
@eh1234 I also think that it would be interesting to see if kids who took both have scores that look more in line with the new table. Those who maybe were planning on sending an ACT score might find that their SAT is just as good.
@homerdog I think Bama will have to adjust the scholarship levels by the fall since they based their old levels on the old table. If I were a parent of a prospective student at Bama, I’d make sure my student was all over the office at Bama that handles this or I’d email myself. I also suspect Bama knew this was coming.
I did my part this morning - emailed our state flagship asking about the auto merit levels and the new concordance.
The tougher question is whether any schools would be willing to retroactively change levels for class of 2021/22. I doubt it, but it can’t hurt to ask.
@homerdog - Do you think any of the new data has implications for PSAT cutoffs for NMSF? Or is that totally unrelated?
@elena13 I asked that question on another thread and one person responded that they didn’t think there was a correlation. Seems to me that there should be since both tests were updated. And because S19 (my little tiny sample) thought the PSAT was harder. LOL. I guess we will just have to wait and see when the cut offs come out.
^Yes, we’ll see. I think the correlation is simply that the rollout of the new test was botched in a bunch of ways, perhaps too easy at first and then made harder. My kid thought the 2017 PSAT was harder than 2016 and it does seem that the SAT reading became harder beginning Aug 2017 through May 2018 compared to the practice tests (though there are anecdotes that June was closer to the practice tests, so maybe they’re backtracking?).
That new table didn’t really change much for son19, pretty similar scores on both tests. The only thing son has going for him is super scoring, which helps him quite a bit.
I’d like him to take the ACT again, but he didn’t like the format , so probably no convincing him. He said he’d take the SAT one more time, in the hopes of going up 20 or so points in each section. He doubts he can go much higher than that in math, and English is a literal crap shoot with him anyways, lol.
The new table exactly corresponds to S19’s 2 scores. Doesn’t change anything for him for auto merit but I feel it is more representative of the ACT rounding.
S19 still scores much lower on SAT than on ACT with the new concordance, but the difference is down to 100 points from 130 or so. Math is very much not his strong suit.
S17 Got 1560 and 36. Any reason to submit both? Got 20 on writing for SAT and 22 ACT. Also 800s on SAT II’s math ii and us history. What should he submit? 3.9 GPA unweighted 4.7 weighted.
I would send the ACT and be done with it, @skrrtbrothersjr , and only send the SAT2 if the college requires the subject tests. But then I’m cheap. If you have the $24 per application to spare, send the SAT2s with each one.
Thanks @homerdog for posting the concordance table. Someone on CC had predicted SAT scores would have higher corresponding ACTs after the new tables came out, and they were right. Good.
Just saw that UChicago announced today that they are going test-optional. Also no tuition for households under $125K, and no cost at all for “most” of those under $60K. Apparently this is considered big news since they are the first of the top-10 universities to go in this direction. https://news.uchicago.edu/story/uchicago-launches-test-optional-admissions-process-expanded-financial-aid-scholarships
Naive question: does the FAFSA take into account the COL of your zip code? Because I’m thinking if you give free tuition to a family of three living in Bismarck North Dakota making $120K, why do you require full pay of $70K for a family of five living in Silicon Valley and a household income of $250K? Thinking something doesn’t quite make a ton of sense here, or am I missing something? It’s true that I don’t know a lot about the FAFSA calculations, but when I hear of income cutoffs for tuition, that seems like such a crude way of addressing need…
@ninakatarina It dawned on me last week that we should at least save $48 and send D19’s SAT scores from March and June to her safety schools, even though we don’t know what her June scores are. Because yes, all these score reports added on to the application fees do add up. Of course I suppose this is a drop in the bucket compared to the giant tuition bills that are coming all too soon…
You get four free SAT scores sent out for each test you take, provided you fill in the request when you take the test. You have to pay $12 for each score you send, so sending both May and June will cost $24 per school. I think? Some colleges require all sittings of a test if you’re submitting the test.
What is the concordance table used for? S19 was 1590 SAT but 33 on ACT. He was planning to not send in the ACT anywhere unless the school says you much send scores for any tests you’ve ever taken. He struggled with the science part of the ACT. Format threw him off.
I think the concordance table is trying to let you know which one is your better test, if you didn’t already know. If you take a practice run at each one, looking at the table will tell you which score is more impressive to send to the adcoms. If the scores line up, then just send one and be done.
@ninakatarina I don’t think you pay CB per test. You pay each time you send a group of scores and you can do score choice. At least the way I understand it, I can send two SAT scores and three SAT 2s all at the same time for one price. Can anyone confirm that? I was waiting to send SAT scores until after we have SAT 2 scores because I would be paying more to send SAT now and then SAT 2s in Sept.
@ninakatarina You have about 10 days after the test date to take advantage of the four free reports, so we did that for D19’s June test. When I did, the report indicates it is sending both March and June to those four schools, unless I’m interpreting what I’m seeing incorrectly. If you don’t do “score select” or whatever it’s called, the default is to send all the scores. So when we agreed to send her June scores, March scores are going as well. It does specifically list March SAT and June SAT in the interface we received after we sent scores. Since these are her likely-admit schools and her hunch from June was that she did fine, we took the minor gamble of sending four schools scores sight unseen. I wouldn’t take such a risk for anything above a likely-admit, but felt okay saving the $48 for the likelies.
On Art Sawyer’s blog he has posted a new chart to compare SAT and ACT scores (for those who have taken both or at least done practice tests on both) to determine which test to favor. For those who have a score discrepancy between the two it’s probably pretty easy to figure that out on your own. My D19 did much better on the ACT. The funny thing was that we didn’t even plan for her to take it but then her school administered it to all juniors.
Thanks for correcting me, I didn’t realize that it would send all sittings. Since S19 did better on the ACT even with the new concordance, we’ll be sending that one anyhow.