SAT scores???

[jk the sooner fan]

anybody up on how to read what is a good and not so good SAT score? jk3 got his scores back but neither of us have any idea how they are?

[soonerboomer93]

it should give a score and then a percentile

the percentile would be a good indication

but they changed scoring since I took it...

[jk the sooner fan]

his percentiles were much better on the act - all top 10's.......not so much on the sat

[soonerboomer93]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAT

[OUAndy1807]

back when I was applying to schools (10 years ago), 24 was pretty much good enough to get into any state school. 26-29 were respectable and got you into the 75th percentile or so. 30+ is great.

edit: I'm dumb, that's ACT

[soonerboomer93]

the SAT (atleast when I took it) was considered the "harder" test

[GottaHavePride]

For SAT, the maximum is 1600 combined. 800 for verbal, 800 for math, or something.

For the ACT 36 combined is the maximum.

[GottaHavePride]

Meh, they re-vamped the SAT a few years back (well, maybe a decade ago now) to "re-normalize" the results or something. Basically averages were falling and they restructured the scoring so the average was back where it's supposed to be.

It all depends on where you want to go to school. in general, east and west coast schools prefer the SAT. the rest of the country prefers the ACT.

[GottaHavePride]

back when I was applying to schools (10 years ago), 24 was pretty much good enough to get into any state school. 26-29 were respectable and got you into the 75th percentile or so. 30+ is great.

edit: I'm dumb, that's ACT

and (usually) 215 or better on the PSAT will get you a National Merit scholarship. ;)

[jk the sooner fan]

and (usually) 215 or better on the PSAT will get you a National Merit scholarship. ;)

he got a 211 on that, just missed it - but got commended scholar, whatever that means

[GottaHavePride]

Yeah, the score you need floats from year-to-year. They take a certain top percentage of the people in the region he took the test (usually by state, Texas might be broken into districts). So if there were a bunch of people in Texas that scored really high it could have bumped the score higher that year, other years he might have had enough with 211. Same thing happened to a friend of mine in high school.

[yermom]

he got a 211 on that, just missed it - but got commended scholar, whatever that means

i was a "commended student" as well

i didn't get crap :mad:

[SoonerStormchaser]

I got a 1220 (610 split on the OLD test)...and thought I could've gotten higher...I hated that test so much I never took it again.

Got me into OU though.

[BajaOklahoma]

Schools that take the ACT will accept the SAT, using some conversion formula. The new SAT still has the 800 points for each area math, verbal and writing.
It really doesn't matter where you fall in the percentile as the more important point is what does the college of your choice require in the way of scores. And the high school GPA. And actually the high school you are graduating from.
OU doesn't take the writing portion of the SAT, if that helps. Sad though.

[GottaHavePride]

In high school I thought I'd apply to MIT for giggles - they required the SAT plus two or three of the SAT supplemental exams (subject-specific whatchamacallits). Now THOSE were a pain in the ***.

[Scott D]

Schools that take the ACT will accept the SAT, using some conversion formula. The new SAT still has the 800 points for each area math, verbal and writing.
It really doesn't matter where you fall in the percentile as the more important point is what does the college of your choice require in the way of scores. And the high school GPA. And actually the high school you are graduating from.
OU doesn't take the writing portion of the SAT, if that helps. Sad though.

generally a school that is ACT based and accepts the SAT will include a conversion chart in their mail packet that they send to prospective applicants.

jk, as long as the boy scored in 4 figures I wouldn't worry too much about the score. I would say that as long as he got at least 1250 he should be ok.

[1stTimeCaller]

My night hand was talking to someone on the phone today and I think he mentioned 1850 as being the perfect score.

Anyhoo, he also mentioned with the new max his scores on the old SAT didn't seem so good. I wanted to tell him that as a 28 year old, nobody cared what he made on the SAT. I'm assuming that his scores were good as he is a West Point graduate although he's lazy as an old lazy thing.

[RacerX]

In high school I thought I'd apply to MIT for giggles - they required the SAT plus two or three of the SAT supplemental exams (subject-specific whatchamacallits). Now THOSE were a pain in the ***.

You're supposed to use your hand to hold the pencil.

[SicEmBaylor]

I only took the ACT. The whole penalization for guessing thing scared me, and I figured I didn't need the SAT for the schools I was applying to (with the exception of Georgetown).

Anyway, the ACT was a disappointment. I made a 32 on my reading, 30 on my english, 28 on my science, and a f-ing 13 on my math.

[olevetonahill]

37 years ago I took the ACT
where do I find my score ?

[BajaOklahoma]

I actually remember my ACT score. I should have gotten more money for it. :mad:

[Vaevictis]

his percentiles were much better on the act - all top 10's.......not so much on the sat

Percentiles are the best way to compare the scores with other people.

But for actual utility, as other people mentioned, find out the score distribution for the recently admitted classes of schools he wants to apply to. That will give you a much better idea of "how well" he did with respect to his goals.

The other comment is that unless his goals include the elite hyper-competitive universities, I wouldn't let a dissapointing SAT score get you too down. You can usually make up for it by going to a community college for a couple of semesters and getting a 3.5+, provided you're doing curriculum level work. Admissions officers (supposedly) use the SAT to predict how well you'll do in their curriculum, and if you've already taken curriculum level classes, well, the grades from them are a better predictor.

[1stTimeCaller]

he already made a what, 34 on the ACT?

[jk the sooner fan]

31

[SoonerStormchaser]

37 years ago I took the ACT
where do I find my score ?


Just tell people that you made a 37...they'll all be impressed!

[Frozen Sooner]

Heh. I remember I got the National Merit qualifying score on the PSAT as a sophomore. All of a sudden, my guidance counselor actually gave a crap about me.

[C&CDean]

I've got a couple degrees hanging on the wall and have never taken an SAT or ACT. I did score high enough on my military GT test to qualify as "cannon fodder."