Highest average SAT scores post-covid of the top 35 colleges as we evolve into a more test required environment

[Anonymous]

I'm so confused. My kids all got into top colleges with 1400ish scores only 12 years ago. 1400 used to be the goal, and now it seems to be 1500. What happened to make that the case? I mean, my kids are your standard white kids with hooks, and they got into some Ivy League schools & Cal & Chapel Hill.

Was the test recentered??

[Anonymous]

*without hooks

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm so confused. My kids all got into top colleges with 1400ish scores only 12 years ago. 1400 used to be the goal, and now it seems to be 1500. What happened to make that the case? I mean, my kids are your standard white kids with hooks, and they got into some Ivy League schools & Cal & Chapel Hill.

Was the test recentered??

No, its pressure from the top - the private boarding schools in the NE which produce kids scoring near 1600s and the trickle down effect from that. Also with more applicants, it pushes the benchmark scores up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm so confused. My kids all got into top colleges with 1400ish scores only 12 years ago. 1400 used to be the goal, and now it seems to be 1500. What happened to make that the case? I mean, my kids are your standard white kids with hooks, and they got into some Ivy League schools & Cal & Chapel Hill.

Was the test recentered??

No, its pressure from the top - the private boarding schools in the NE which produce kids scoring near 1600s and the trickle down effect from that. Also with more applicants, it pushes the benchmark scores up.

Wow. My kids were top students and I guess they could have kept taking the tests to get to 1500. Is that what others are doing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm so confused. My kids all got into top colleges with 1400ish scores only 12 years ago. 1400 used to be the goal, and now it seems to be 1500. What happened to make that the case? I mean, my kids are your standard white kids with hooks, and they got into some Ivy League schools & Cal & Chapel Hill.

Was the test recentered??

1400 wasn't good enough for unhooked kids at T10 schools 12 years ago either.

with TO, 1530 plus is where you need to be

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm so confused. My kids all got into top colleges with 1400ish scores only 12 years ago. 1400 used to be the goal, and now it seems to be 1500. What happened to make that the case? I mean, my kids are your standard white kids with hooks, and they got into some Ivy League schools & Cal & Chapel Hill.

Was the test recentered??

1400 wasn't good enough for unhooked kids at T10 schools 12 years ago either.

with TO, 1530 plus is where you need to be

Well, it was. 3 of my kids went to T10 colleges 12 years ago & 14 years ago (twins are in there). They had 4.0 GPAs and SAT scores ~1400. The goal to hit back then was 1400 for Math & English (Reading was still part of the test but was often ignored). I don't know what to tell you about how that happened, but it was the case for them and the majority of their classmates.

[Anonymous]

Superscoring, many more domestic Asian and international applicants. More test takers. More prep. More of everything. That's why 1400 isn't that great of a score.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Superscoring, many more domestic Asian and international applicants. More test takers. More prep. More of everything. That's why 1400 isn't that great of a score.

Nonsense and bigoted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Superscoring, many more domestic Asian and international applicants. More test takers. More prep. More of everything. That's why 1400 isn't that great of a score.

Nonsense and bigoted.

Definitely not worded the best, but the PP has a point.

In 2023, Asian students achieved the highest average SAT score of 1219.

Asian students' average score was 318 points higher than the average SAT score of Black American Indian/Alaska Native students, which was 901.


https://www.bestcolleges.com/research/average-sat-score-full-statistics/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If/when these schools go back to test required, we will see the scores go down. Still, it makes me shake my head in disbelief when I see someone bemoan how a 1500 is a bad score.

Exactly. Inflated averages compared to schools that never went TO

[Anonymous]

UT Austin is going test mandatory. They explicitly state that high SAT scores directly correlate with college performance.

More and more colleges are taking this route. The top SAT scoring schools will eventually be all test mandatory.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Superscoring, many more domestic Asian and international applicants. More test takers. More prep. More of everything. That's why 1400 isn't that great of a score.

Nonsense and bigoted.

Definitely not worded the best, but the PP has a point.

In 2023, Asian students achieved the highest average SAT score of 1219.

Asian students' average score was 318 points higher than the average SAT score of Black American Indian/Alaska Native students, which was 901.


https://www.bestcolleges.com/research/average-sat-score-full-statistics/

Yes, Asian Americans have high test scores. They prep; they study. Why is that wrong? Do other races not study or prep for exams? Perhaps they should.

And before you say that those poor kids don't have the money to pay for prep, there are free services. My kid used Khan Academy to study for their SATs; test prep books are also available at the library; our HS offers free test prepping classes.

My DC went to a free AP test prepping class the other day offered by the HS. There were mostly Asians, a few white kids. This was a free service on a Saturday afternoon.

As the saying goes.. where there is a will, there is a way. I grew up lower income to immigrant parents. My awful HS didn't have these free services. If they had, I would've taken it.

[Anonymous]

There is a percentage number that says for example 60% submitted scores. Is this among those who applied, or among those who got accepted?

[Anonymous]

Well, one more school reversing TO policy:

https://www.texastribune.org/2024/03/11/university-texas-austin-test-admissions/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is a percentage number that says for example 60% submitted scores. Is this among those who applied, or among those who got accepted?

Usually it is enrolled students. You will also see the percentage who submitted an SAT score, and the percentage who submitted an ACT score. Often times there will be a few percent who submit both.