8/23/25 SAT scores out

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yall this is making me cringe. My kids are so average - maybe nationally above average but below average for this site, lol. My sophomore got like a 1060 on the PSAT last year and I still expect them to go to a great college and have a wonderful life. My husband and I went to “fine” colleges yet we are securely UC so your kids will be completely fine I promise!

Same here. Lucky for them they have not so average grandparents. One of their grandpas died and left them 7 figure trusts. My husband and I along with the grandparents have always accepted them for who they are. Average goofballs.

We don’t care that your trust fund kid doesn’t care about the sat. Obviously different starting position in life. Congrats to your grandpa.

Not really a different starting point. The pp I’m quoting said that she and her husband have an upper class income. That would ultimately create financial security for her child.

I didn’t say we don’t care about the SATs, I’m saying we don’t freak out over average scores.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think if forced to choose, college professors would rather teach high SAT/low GPA kids than low SAT/ high GPA kids.

I wonder why that is?

Because ...

Based on data compiled across 139 colleges in 2023, these graphs show the percentage of students expected to be in the top 1% of income earners based on their career status at age 25. As you can see, higher standardized test scores (left graph) correlate very well with future economic success; one’s High School GPA (right graph) shows no such correlation, and instead is consistent with a flat, uncorrelated distribution.

Hmm ... this graph seems to indicate that my DC will earn a higher income if she got a 1430 (95th percentile) on SAT versus a 1500 (98th percentile). The income dot is higher at around 1430-ish than 1500-ish.

Also, there is about a 5% point difference between 1300 and 1600. That range doesn't convince me that a 1600 clearly gives you an advantage in earning potential.

The difference is with test optional, many 1300s don’t even report even though they are about the 90%. So it ends being just the top 3-5% overall who report who then think these narrow bands matter. Honestly I think lots of colleges like test optional because it allows them to inflate their test scores.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yall this is making me cringe. My kids are so average - maybe nationally above average but below average for this site, lol. My sophomore got like a 1060 on the PSAT last year and I still expect them to go to a great college and have a wonderful life. My husband and I went to “fine” colleges yet we are securely UC so your kids will be completely fine I promise!

Same here. Lucky for them they have not so average grandparents. One of their grandpas died and left them 7 figure trusts. My husband and I along with the grandparents have always accepted them for who they are. Average goofballs.

Seven figures aren't going to last long if not used wisely. For average kids, yeah should not focus on sat scores. Just a good education to make sure generational wealth passes down.

My point was just because parents or grandparents went to Ivy League and earned a ton of money doesn’t mean the next generation will duplicate the success. I’m not sure about my youngest but my oldest is at a school of the arts in NYC. She won’t be making a ton of money but she will work. Hopefully she’ll find a decent partner, he’ll work and they will be like the millions of other Americans who get by. As for making her money last her grandpa used generation skipping trusts so she can’t blow it all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do you feel about the score?

People on DCUM think 1500 scores are easy to achieve. Even with test prep, it's not.

Good luck.

Definitely normal to pressure your kid to deliver results in the top 1% of all test takers consistently because “everyone else is”.

In the words of the great James Tiberius Kirk, “get a life”.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Senior disappointed as they consistently score about 50 points lower in the room than at home. This was third time and they seem to have maxed out at a 1450 - obviously not terrible but they've studied hard.

This is my DS exactly. Hard to see him so disappointed because he’s such a great kid. He’s feeling some schools are out since he can’t crack 1500.

Same here. Can’t crack it, still in lower 1400s and having to decide whether to submit.

This is why we need to go back to test required.

Who’s “we”?

Which T20 do you run admissions policy for?

This is worse than sports radio, at least the callers there know something about sports.

[Anonymous]

1480 superscore. prepped all summer with tutors and his verbal score dropped 30 points. Math went up 20. He's frustrated and I am for him as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Senior disappointed as they consistently score about 50 points lower in the room than at home. This was third time and they seem to have maxed out at a 1450 - obviously not terrible but they've studied hard.

This is my DS exactly. Hard to see him so disappointed because he’s such a great kid. He’s feeling some schools are out since he can’t crack 1500.

Same here. Can’t crack it, still in lower 1400s and having to decide whether to submit.

This is why we need to go back to test required.

Who’s “we”?

Which T20 do you run admissions policy for?

This is worse than sports radio, at least the callers there know something about sports.

Are you new here? This is a message where “we” all give our opinions. Do you think it’s a normal world when a kid in the top 3% doesn’t think their score is high enough and may not report?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread seems to have a lot of "perfect GPA/ high rigor" kids who are surprised their kids are scoring in the 1300-1400 range (still a great score)!

I think what this shows is that grading standards at high schools (especially public ones) have become so inflated that GPA is a barely meaningful metric any more. Also demonstrates the folly of test optional policies.

Every high school is different. Every kid is different. Test scores should not be dispositive in the admissions context, but it is undeniably useful to have a single uniform and unbiased metric for all kids in the admissions pool (if only to normalize the wildly different quality and grading standards across high schools).

It's also helpful for students to understand their own strengths and weaknesses.

Another +1

In our school (a top private outside DMV), it’s quite common for a junior to get 1470-1550 in their first try, some after trying in 10th grade and getting 1430+, yet none of these kids has ever experienced a 4.0 in their life. They often have 3.7-3.85 GPAs. And before anyone says they must have tests prep tutors to achieve those high SATs, I can tell you our DCs didn’t and you have to then also ask why couldn’t those same tutors help them get the elusive 4.0.

I think schools that inflate GPAs have shot themselves in the foot because they invite college admissions to question the rigor of their curriculum. And when a school sends in 60 applications same year all with indistinguishable 4.0, top rigor, multiple club leaderships and school awards, the easiest way for admissions officers is to reject all of them.

Last year, 5 kids out of 110 in our school cracked 3.9 for their GPA; they all got into HYPMS, as did some with 3.85-3.89.

+1. My kid is one of the no prep high scorers after sophomore year who did not have a 4.0. Some kids’ brains just get these types of tests, like an earlier poster said. That doesn’t mean they have learned how to grind in school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Senior disappointed as they consistently score about 50 points lower in the room than at home. This was third time and they seem to have maxed out at a 1450 - obviously not terrible but they've studied hard.

This is my DS exactly. Hard to see him so disappointed because he’s such a great kid. He’s feeling some schools are out since he can’t crack 1500.

Same here. Can’t crack it, still in lower 1400s and having to decide whether to submit.

This is why we need to go back to test required.

Who’s “we”?

Which T20 do you run admissions policy for?

This is worse than sports radio, at least the callers there know something about sports.

We, America.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1480 superscore. prepped all summer with tutors and his verbal score dropped 30 points. Math went up 20. He's frustrated and I am for him as well.

NP. Frustrated here too. August composite 180 points less than the official practice tests, the later ones that are supposedly representative. WTH.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1480 superscore. prepped all summer with tutors and his verbal score dropped 30 points. Math went up 20. He's frustrated and I am for him as well.

1470 superscore, math down 20, verbal up 40

they both have two more strikes at it

[Anonymous]

there are the same number of each score every test.

it's easier to get a high school on a hard test.

you can miss more and still get a high score.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1480 superscore. prepped all summer with tutors and his verbal score dropped 30 points. Math went up 20. He's frustrated and I am for him as well.

Quit here. If he spent all summer with tutors, his score is already molded to be as high as it's going to be.

The good news is:
1) 1480 is an excellent score (97th percentile-ish)
2) the standardized test is only a small portion of what they look at to make decisions. it's not nearly as important as the rest of the file (info straight from 2 AOs at top 30 schools)!

Bottom line: SAT/ACT is just not worth sinking that much time into.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1480 superscore. prepped all summer with tutors and his verbal score dropped 30 points. Math went up 20. He's frustrated and I am for him as well.

Mine got a 1430 psat last fall (so 98%) studying on his own. Hired a tutor in January to tweak it up a bit and keep him practicing….got a 1380 in March, more tutoring….1400 in June.

Quit tutoring, quit doing any prep at all…took August and got 1510 (back to 98%). So, tutoring was crap for us too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:there are the same number of each score every test.

it's easier to get a high school on a hard test.

you can miss more and still get a high score.

On the digital test, different questions are worth different numbers of points, unlike the old paper test.