Does anyone know for sure how the module scoring works on the new Digital SAT?

[Anonymous]

My daughter took a practice test recently and the representative from the company indicated that based on the adaptive testing performance, 200 points could be deducted from each section of the test.

Each section (Math and Reading) has 2 "modules." Based on how the student completes the first module, the second module adapts to the students knowledge level. From what I learned, Module 2A means your student had the harder questions and there is no point deduction. Module 2B means your student got easier questions and gets a 200 point deduction. So if my math is correct, any student who ends up with module 2B in both reading and math could only score 1200 at the most on the SAT. Thankfully my DD had module 2A on in both the reading and the math.

Anyone else know if this is accurate? I haven't been able to find anything about the scoring online, but was able to locate this document which gives a lot of info on the digital test, including how the adaptive testing works. https://satsuite.collegeboard.org/media/pdf/digital-sat-test-spec-overview.pdf

Here's the section about the modules and the multi stage adaptive testing:

[Anonymous]

OP here. I just found a vague reference to scoring highest number of points based on strong performance on Module 1, but nothing about exactly how many points are deducted. https://www.petersons.com/blog/the-sat-exam-is-changing-heres-what-students-need-to-know/

[Anonymous]

I'm interested in this as well. Does this mean the lowest score you can receive if you do module 2a in both subjects is a 1200?

[Anonymous]

My son took the digital PSAT in October (11th grade). Overall, he didn’t do well. Last year he took the paper PSAT/NMSQT in 10th and scored in the 90+ percentile on both math and ELA. This year, he did okay on the ELA section but poorly on the math— 150 points less than last year. We looked over the scoring report, which doesn’t tell you which questions your child missed but does give the score range and which types of questions/areas of math/ELA he missed. It’s clear that he had the harder module 2 for ELA but not for math.

Based on practice tests in the past (he hasn’t taken the official SAT yet) and his score report from 10th grade, my child makes careless mistakes but didn’t struggle with higher level math. I think this is a problem for the new testing format (although he has always done well on MAP tests, which are also adaptive but get progressively harder vs capping the score).

I think he was capped at 600 points for math, based on his score. Unfortunately, you can’t tell from the report how the questions are weighted in each section. Did he miss too many questions in module 1 or only harder questions? He already took the ACT and did well and will take it one more time this spring to see if can gain 1-2 points. I don’t think we will bother with the digital SAT.

[Anonymous]

I haven't seen a lot of info. My 11th grader did much better on the DPSAT than on the 10th PSAT last year and even better than on the paper SAT. We decided to wait until fully digital since it seems to be a better match. I wish there was more information, though. I liked how the PSAT10 linked to Khan academy, but I'm not seeing that for the DPSAT11.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm interested in this as well. Does this mean the lowest score you can receive if you do module 2a in both subjects is a 1200?

I don't think so. It does mean the highest score you can get is 1200 if you do module 2b in both subjects though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son took the digital PSAT in October (11th grade). Overall, he didn’t do well. Last year he took the paper PSAT/NMSQT in 10th and scored in the 90+ percentile on both math and ELA. This year, he did okay on the ELA section but poorly on the math— 150 points less than last year. We looked over the scoring report, which doesn’t tell you which questions your child missed but does give the score range and which types of questions/areas of math/ELA he missed. It’s clear that he had the harder module 2 for ELA but not for math.

Based on practice tests in the past (he hasn’t taken the official SAT yet) and his score report from 10th grade, my child makes careless mistakes but didn’t struggle with higher level math. I think this is a problem for the new testing format (although he has always done well on MAP tests, which are also adaptive but get progressively harder vs capping the score).

I think he was capped at 600 points for math, based on his score. Unfortunately, you can’t tell from the report how the questions are weighted in each section. Did he miss too many questions in module 1 or only harder questions? He already took the ACT and did well and will take it one more time this spring to see if can gain 1-2 points. I don’t think we will bother with the digital SAT.

This makes sense. If he went to module b, he lost 200 points and is capped at 600. I guess the moral of the story is to be careful on the harder questions in the first module to ensure you have a shot at module a.

[Anonymous]

I bet the murkiness of the new format will make the SAT even more optional than it already is.

[Anonymous]

Is the prep though any different really? I mean, there is no different strategy it sounds like except to make sure you are answering the "harder" questions on Module 1 correctly. Although there is no way to know if you are or not during the test.

Do you know if you will then find out if you had Module 2A vs Module 2B? Will that be part of the score report?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is the prep though any different really? I mean, there is no different strategy it sounds like except to make sure you are answering the "harder" questions on Module 1 correctly. Although there is no way to know if you are or not during the test.

Do you know if you will then find out if you had Module 2A vs Module 2B? Will that be part of the score report?

I posted earlier and no, that information is not included in the score report. You can only infer from the score bands for each type of questions, e.g., algebra, passport to advanced math, etc. For example, scored in the 700-800 range for Data analysis.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is the prep though any different really? I mean, there is no different strategy it sounds like except to make sure you are answering the "harder" questions on Module 1 correctly. Although there is no way to know if you are or not during the test.

Do you know if you will then find out if you had Module 2A vs Module 2B? Will that be part of the score report?

I posted earlier and no, that information is not included in the score report. You can only infer from the score bands for each type of questions, e.g., algebra, passport to advanced math, etc. For example, scored in the 700-800 range for Data analysis.

I would add that the practice test my DD took did indicate module a in her score report.

[Anonymous]

I attended a dsat presentation last night put out by Princeton review. Even they didn’t know the amount of point deductions and caps that will happen as a result of the track your kid goes on.
I found the new scoring ridiculously unfair and they implied that scores can be lower on the digital version vs paper format esp. for poor test takers.
The worst part is that the questions formats are much different than paper version and since this is so new, there isn’t a lot of test prep available (although this does level the playing field). They showed a few examples and shared some strategies and my dd, who has done a little prep for the paper format, said that it won’t be useful for the digital version. 11th graders, like my dd who did not score well on a paper version and now have to take the digital version will find any prior prep mostly useless. With that said, she thought the math was easier but found the verbal trickier. Maybe this will end SaT once and for all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I attended a dsat presentation last night put out by Princeton review. Even they didn’t know the amount of point deductions and caps that will happen as a result of the track your kid goes on.
I found the new scoring ridiculously unfair and they implied that scores can be lower on the digital version vs paper format esp. for poor test takers.
The worst part is that the questions formats are much different than paper version and since this is so new, there isn’t a lot of test prep available (although this does level the playing field). They showed a few examples and shared some strategies and my dd, who has done a little prep for the paper format, said that it won’t be useful for the digital version. 11th graders, like my dd who did not score well on a paper version and now have to take the digital version will find any prior prep mostly useless. With that said, she thought the math was easier but found the verbal trickier. Maybe this will end SaT once and for all.

I attended a webinar for private schools about a month or so ago and the presenter was quite knowledgable. He indicated that if the student ends up on the module B path, their section score is capped at around 600-650. He shared this interesting graphic which shows the mix of difficult, moderate, and easy questions (difficult being the darkest color).

Also, a student who gets less than 2/3 of the first module correct will end up on the B path.

Note: This graphic appears to have a type in that they flipped module A and B. A is the harder path, not B. But this still gives you a feel for the level of difficulty for each path.

[Anonymous]

What companies are posters referring to above (other than Princeton Review)?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son took the digital PSAT in October (11th grade). Overall, he didn’t do well. Last year he took the paper PSAT/NMSQT in 10th and scored in the 90+ percentile on both math and ELA. This year, he did okay on the ELA section but poorly on the math— 150 points less than last year. We looked over the scoring report, which doesn’t tell you which questions your child missed but does give the score range and which types of questions/areas of math/ELA he missed. It’s clear that he had the harder module 2 for ELA but not for math.

Based on practice tests in the past (he hasn’t taken the official SAT yet) and his score report from 10th grade, my child makes careless mistakes but didn’t struggle with higher level math. I think this is a problem for the new testing format (although he has always done well on MAP tests, which are also adaptive but get progressively harder vs capping the score).

I think he was capped at 600 points for math, based on his score. Unfortunately, you can’t tell from the report how the questions are weighted in each section. Did he miss too many questions in module 1 or only harder questions? He already took the ACT and did well and will take it one more time this spring to see if can gain 1-2 points. I don’t think we will bother with the digital SAT.

Capped should be lower than 600 on PSAT considering the highest score is 1520.


This makes sense. If he went to module b, he lost 200 points and is capped at 600. I guess the moral of the story is to be careful on the harder questions in the first module to ensure you have a shot at module a.