Kind of an off topic question. My teen is about to take the SAT for the first time. I was just wondering when student SAT scores got so high. I went to an Ivy League school back in the 80s. I also came from one of my state’s top high schools back then (actually still is). But even in my school back in the 80s a score in the 1300s, was a top SAT score (1600s scale). There was one girl in my HS who I heard got a 1500 and she was a genius. You could even get into a good school with a 1200 SAT. Now I am seeing that SAT scores in the 1400s are considered average. And kids getting scores in the 1500s is not a rare thing anymore. Now granted back in my day (I know I sound like an old grandma) test prep companies were not the norm, nor were college consultants, etc. I am just trying to figure out when and how scores got so high.
What made me ask is I saw an old CC post and someone posted their stats and a person said something like “you will never get into X” with that score or “you will never survive that major with that score”, or something like that and I was saying to myself, I got into an Ivy & survived with that score back in the day. What has changed?
The SAT has been re-normed (I think that is the right term) at least twice since you took it. I know that somebody else probably has more exact information, but it equates to something like a 1500 today is like a 1350 in the early 80s.
Back in the 1980s, I did no more than 15 minutes of SAT prep (doing the sample questions in the booklet with the signup form). That seemed to be the norm those days, even though test prep classes and books did exist.
But now, it seems to be the norm for moderately high to high achieving students to do dozens or hundreds of hours of SAT or ACT prep. That probably has some effect on increasing scores (after accounting for the 1985 and 2016 changes) among the moderately high to high achieving students.
As others explained, the test has been re-centered twice. My 1980s score equates to a 100 point higher score today.
However, what also did not exist in the 1980s is a social media environment in which kids and families of kids in the top few percentiles could find each other from across the globe and make it feel like “everyone” has those sorts of scores. 1400s are still not average, 1500s are still rare by any normal definition of that term, but when you basically create online clubs for kids/families of kids who mostly have very high scores, then in those clubs it will feel average/common to have very high scores.
Am an Penn/Wharton grad in the LATE 90s (to be precise haha). I myself am puzzled why – and I think, personally, with a DS about to be in 8th grade, these kids have been extremely hyper competitive due to:
a) increasing college applicants not keeping up with increased admission seats - therefore they know, via social media, school etc that they need to step up (at least the high achiever ones)
b) kids nowadays being “better” due to evolution (therefore expect SAT scores as well). I think mankind just needs to evolve, in general ︎
c) I got into Penn with 1360 then… again I dunno what that means now. I slaved through that 1360 score, with my math helping my verbal (I was an international student entering Penn then), had to take TOEFL too and aced that one (go figure - I spoke better English that most Americans given I was trained in sentence diagramming, etc back home for English) - I don’t think I could give more to get any higher then (heck I was ecstatic to be 1360!)
d) Proliferation of educational consultants/test prep schools – my son already has started being told about PSAT… ugh - I personally took PSAT too but it didn’t really count (yes, I took it even if I was not living in the USA then)
Net, IMHO, ivy league AND even top 30 schools are now like playing the lottery – you need the money to buy as “many shots on goal” as much as you can (Eg admissions tests, hire educational consultants(?), minimum base scores in SAT eg test prep?, GPA, extra curricular (again $, esp if expensive sports activities), – all of which require $ in terms of quantity), and then hope you get lucky that you are “wanted/needed” based on your demographics, etc etc etc… my 2c these days, I could be wrong… this forum is the best place to research, in my opinion, along with PBS documentaries that I’ve seen on TV the past few years
To get an inside view of today’s college admissions, you should read Who Gets in and Why by Jeffrey Selingo. Very interesting and somewhat eye opening read.
While the number of kids scoring at the higher end has increased, the average SAT score has remained in the mid 1,000s for decades. Still, a 1500 isn’t all that common even today (about 20,000 kids score that - 1% of test takers) and scores in the mid to high 1500’s are even rarer. I’m sure extensive prep plays a part in the increased number of kids scoring highly (along with private tutors etc). Of course, paid prep isn’t always necessary - S24 got a 1580 spending a few hours self-prepping the grammar with a book. Also, I have to mention that even a sky high score is no guarantee of an Ivy admission - despite a stellar all around application, S24 was rejected by the two Ivies he applied to.
Test prep. Period. Plus now lots of schools teach to the test per se. Back in the day, I graduated high school in 1979 (yikes), and we just woke up and took the test. Really, really smart kids studied some of their notes. Kinda rare these days due to the massive competition and some students having a hard time getting into their proposed safeties. I can’t remember what my score was and can tell you it probably wasn’t great . But you just move on with life. Many kids /adults with lower Sat scores are doing some really amazing things these days.
Echoing my own post, am I right then to “conclude” that applying to Ivy (let alone any top 30), seems to be like buying powerball? (Ok so the odds are higher of course) but I think it’s safe to say, you are never certain of even at least 1 once you submit the application these days (eg apply to the 8 ivies, you may get zero even with SAT 1500-1600, GPA top 1% in class, great EC’s etc).
I don’t know these days as I have an only DS (no other kids). I just joined CC and boy it’s an eye opener, my son feel he’s already pressured with PSAT - I took the PSAT myself then and it doesn’t even count - I told him that (eg just don’t bother bec it’s like me buying lottery tickets in the gas station - have I won? LOL)
PS Edit - not sure if this is now off topic – am new here, if it is, please delete.
Good grades, scores, reasonable activities, full pay, and an ED application should be enough at many schools ranked T20-30, particularly for a male applicant.
So the study is interesting but it seems people on CC are vying for at least the top 50 schools. Maybe the top 30 schools. I haven’t looked but I would assume those scores are going to be much higher alas, making this whole process more competitive. Even schools that were test optional some are reverting back to Sat /Act scoring. Usually if they tracked kids during the main pandemic phase and they aren’t doing as well as previous students then going back to a metric that worked better makes sense. As you are aware, many schools are still test optional since their metrics showed that those same kids did well enough or excelled regardless of test scores. So is it the product of the score or of the college ability to teach the student effectively?
Average isn’t the issue, though. The issue is compression at the top. I had a 1490 in 1992. My 1490 would be a 1580 today. I knew one person in the early ‘90s who got above 1500. That was a really exceptional score back then. Now everyone who would have gotten a 1400 or above in the early ‘90s is getting a 1550-1600. (And this isn’t even considering superscoring.). Between this and grade inflation, it is really hard for schools to identify those kids with truly exceptional aptitude.
If I had to come up with one abstract idea to answer the question, I’d say it’s increased competitiveness at the top.
As pointed out above, the average scores aren’t increasing. ACT scores were recently reported to be at a 30-year low. And 2023 SAT scores are the lowest ever in the Math and EBRW era (since 2017, when the Writing section went away).
More than half the students at my kids’ high school didn’t even bother to take the SAT, and those that did averaged about 1100.
But we live in a society that increasingly concentrates its rewards at the top. So there is enormous attention—by parents of a certain class, by this forum and other online forums, by test prep services, by major newspapers like the NYT—focused on the top 1%-3% percent of students, vying for spots in a tiny minority of institutions.
Parents are convinced that, in our structurally unequal society, their children must fight to be in the top 1% or better: top 1% of test scores to get into top 1% of colleges to get a top 1% job to earn a top 1% income. Worse than that, you fall off the class cliff.
Maybe they’re right. Maybe they’re wrong. But the attitude represents a reading of how socio-economic class works in the US now (as opposed to say 40 years ago, when incomes were more equal).
If you read College Confidential, you get the impression that nearly every kid gets a 1500+ on the SAT. No. These kids represent candidates for the top spots in our economy: either as flat-out rich .1%-ers or their well-remunerated facilitators in the professional-managerial class.
Most of the students who report over 1500 are superscoring the test. Students can hide lower scores from most colleges. This was not an option decades ago when I took the test. It’s also typical for students to take the test 3 or more times in junior/senior year. When I was a senior in high school, most of my classmates only took the test once, and I’m a Millennial. I didn’t go to a “top high school”, but the top 5% of the class consistently was admitted to Ivy’s/Georgetown/Hopkins/Caltech/MIT.
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. But you just move on with life. Many kids /adults with lower Sat scores are doing some really amazing things these days.