Are SAT scores just higher now than the mid/late 90s?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:College Board has lowered the standard a lot over the time, particularly with the introduction of digital SAT.

Just like GPA in public schools, every one gets 4.0, now every one get 1500 in digital SAT.

To stand out for T10 or even T25, the kids need to achieve 1550 just to be sure.

Just plain False. My kid took the regular SAT and then the digital. The math section on the first digital(at least-haven't taken one since) was insanely hard. This was evident nation wide.

Evidence says otherwise. Just do some simply googling.

College board says they are the same.
https://research.collegeboard.org/media/pdf/Digital_SAT_Score_Relationships_with_Other_Educational_Measures.pdf

Correct. There is no evidence online that says that the digital is easier.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:College Board has lowered the standard a lot over the time, particularly with the introduction of digital SAT.

Just like GPA in public schools, every one gets 4.0, now every one get 1500 in digital SAT.

To stand out for T10 or even T25, the kids need to achieve 1550 just to be sure.

Just plain False. My kid took the regular SAT and then the digital. The math section on the first digital(at least-haven't taken one since) was insanely hard. This was evident nation wide.

Evidence says otherwise. Just do some simply googling.

There is no evidence that the digital is easier.

I dare you to find it. Please post it when you do.

It is 100% factual true that the current SAT is easier than the pre1995 SAT. Since then the test has been been renormed multiple times to lower the ceiling, which makes it challenging for colleges to differentiate exceptionally bright kids, from the smarter than average but not exceptional kids. Before 1995 only 5-7 students would get a perfect score each year. This was out of slightly more than a million people. A perfect score only occurred for around 1/200,000 test takers. Now around 400-500 test takers get a perfect score each year, which means a perfect score represents a 1/4,000 test score. A perfect score is 50x more common than before 1995, so the test is unequivocally easier than it used to be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:College Board has lowered the standard a lot over the time, particularly with the introduction of digital SAT.

Just like GPA in public schools, every one gets 4.0, now every one get 1500 in digital SAT.

To stand out for T10 or even T25, the kids need to achieve 1550 just to be sure.

How do you know that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:College Board has lowered the standard a lot over the time, particularly with the introduction of digital SAT.

Just like GPA in public schools, every one gets 4.0, now every one get 1500 in digital SAT.

To stand out for T10 or even T25, the kids need to achieve 1550 just to be sure.

In 2023 only 7% scored over 1400, which was not “everyone”, and I doubt it will be much higher on the dSAT.

please ... when we say "everyone", we mean every one who is relevant.
If you don't score in the 99 percentile, not relevant to this conversation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:College Board has lowered the standard a lot over the time, particularly with the introduction of digital SAT.

Just like GPA in public schools, every one gets 4.0, now every one get 1500 in digital SAT.

To stand out for T10 or even T25, the kids need to achieve 1550 just to be sure.

Just plain False. My kid took the regular SAT and then the digital. The math section on the first digital(at least-haven't taken one since) was insanely hard. This was evident nation wide.

Evidence says otherwise. Just do some simply googling.

There is no evidence that the digital is easier.

I dare you to find it. Please post it when you do.

It is 100% factual true that the current SAT is easier than the pre1995 SAT. Since then the test has been been renormed multiple times to lower the ceiling, which makes it challenging for colleges to differentiate exceptionally bright kids, from the smarter than average but not exceptional kids. Before 1995 only 5-7 students would get a perfect score each year. This was out of slightly more than a million people. A perfect score only occurred for around 1/200,000 test takers. Now around 400-500 test takers get a perfect score each year, which means a perfect score represents a 1/4,000 test score. A perfect score is 50x more common than before 1995, so the test is unequivocally easier than it used to be.

Correct. And the trend continues ...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:College Board has lowered the standard a lot over the time, particularly with the introduction of digital SAT.

Just like GPA in public schools, every one gets 4.0, now every one get 1500 in digital SAT.

To stand out for T10 or even T25, the kids need to achieve 1550 just to be sure.

Just plain False. My kid took the regular SAT and then the digital. The math section on the first digital(at least-haven't taken one since) was insanely hard. This was evident nation wide.

Evidence says otherwise. Just do some simply googling.

There is no evidence that the digital is easier.

I dare you to find it. Please post it when you do.

It is 100% factual true that the current SAT is easier than the pre1995 SAT. Since then the test has been been renormed multiple times to lower the ceiling, which makes it challenging for colleges to differentiate exceptionally bright kids, from the smarter than average but not exceptional kids. Before 1995 only 5-7 students would get a perfect score each year. This was out of slightly more than a million people. A perfect score only occurred for around 1/200,000 test takers. Now around 400-500 test takers get a perfect score each year, which means a perfect score represents a 1/4,000 test score. A perfect score is 50x more common than before 1995, so the test is unequivocally easier than it used to be.

Isn't there a possibility that better and widespread focus and test prep have resulted in higher scores rather than just assuming the test is easier? I honestly don't know. Just throwing that out there. My personal experience with standardized tests was in prehistoric times (late 80s) so likely not applicable

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:College Board has lowered the standard a lot over the time, particularly with the introduction of digital SAT.

Just like GPA in public schools, every one gets 4.0, now every one get 1500 in digital SAT.

To stand out for T10 or even T25, the kids need to achieve 1550 just to be sure.

Just plain False. My kid took the regular SAT and then the digital. The math section on the first digital(at least-haven't taken one since) was insanely hard. This was evident nation wide.

Evidence says otherwise. Just do some simply googling.

There is no evidence that the digital is easier.

I dare you to find it. Please post it when you do.

It is 100% factual true that the current SAT is easier than the pre1995 SAT. Since then the test has been been renormed multiple times to lower the ceiling, which makes it challenging for colleges to differentiate exceptionally bright kids, from the smarter than average but not exceptional kids. Before 1995 only 5-7 students would get a perfect score each year. This was out of slightly more than a million people. A perfect score only occurred for around 1/200,000 test takers. Now around 400-500 test takers get a perfect score each year, which means a perfect score represents a 1/4,000 test score. A perfect score is 50x more common than before 1995, so the test is unequivocally easier than it used to be.

Isn't there a possibility that better and widespread focus and test prep have resulted in higher scores rather than just assuming the test is easier? I honestly don't know. Just throwing that out there. My personal experience with standardized tests was in prehistoric times (late 80s) so likely not applicable

That is high be a minor contributing factor. However, the ceiling for the upper end of the scores was lowered because the renormed the average score to center it around 500 for both sections. They also changed the test to make it less G loaded (less correlated with general intelligence) which makes the test more prepable. They basically made it easier and less predictive of college performance by weakling the intelligence loaded component of the test.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:College Board has lowered the standard a lot over the time, particularly with the introduction of digital SAT.

Just like GPA in public schools, every one gets 4.0, now every one get 1500 in digital SAT.

To stand out for T10 or even T25, the kids need to achieve 1550 just to be sure.

Just plain False. My kid took the regular SAT and then the digital. The math section on the first digital(at least-haven't taken one since) was insanely hard. This was evident nation wide.

Evidence says otherwise. Just do some simply googling.

There is no evidence that the digital is easier.

I dare you to find it. Please post it when you do.

It is 100% factual true that the current SAT is easier than the pre1995 SAT. Since then the test has been been renormed multiple times to lower the ceiling, which makes it challenging for colleges to differentiate exceptionally bright kids, from the smarter than average but not exceptional kids. Before 1995 only 5-7 students would get a perfect score each year. This was out of slightly more than a million people. A perfect score only occurred for around 1/200,000 test takers. Now around 400-500 test takers get a perfect score each year, which means a perfect score represents a 1/4,000 test score. A perfect score is 50x more common than before 1995, so the test is unequivocally easier than it used to be.

Isn't there a possibility that better and widespread focus and test prep have resulted in higher scores rather than just assuming the test is easier? I honestly don't know. Just throwing that out there. My personal experience with standardized tests was in prehistoric times (late 80s) so likely not applicable

That might be minor contributing factor. However, the ceiling for the upper end of the scores was lowered because the renormed the average score to center it around 500 for both sections. They also changed the test to make it less G loaded (less correlated with general intelligence) which makes the test more prepable. They basically made it easier and less predictive of college performance by weakening the intelligence loaded component of the test.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:College Board has lowered the standard a lot over the time, particularly with the introduction of digital SAT.

Just like GPA in public schools, every one gets 4.0, now every one get 1500 in digital SAT.

To stand out for T10 or even T25, the kids need to achieve 1550 just to be sure.

Just plain False. My kid took the regular SAT and then the digital. The math section on the first digital(at least-haven't taken one since) was insanely hard. This was evident nation wide.

Evidence says otherwise. Just do some simply googling.

There is no evidence that the digital is easier.

I dare you to find it. Please post it when you do.

It is 100% factual true that the current SAT is easier than the pre1995 SAT. Since then the test has been been renormed multiple times to lower the ceiling, which makes it challenging for colleges to differentiate exceptionally bright kids, from the smarter than average but not exceptional kids. Before 1995 only 5-7 students would get a perfect score each year. This was out of slightly more than a million people. A perfect score only occurred for around 1/200,000 test takers. Now around 400-500 test takers get a perfect score each year, which means a perfect score represents a 1/4,000 test score. A perfect score is 50x more common than before 1995, so the test is unequivocally easier than it used to be.

DP. I don’t see the connection. If I had an exam where there was a significant transformation in free services and boot camps to learn the exam, it’s been integrated into curriculums, and students have access to more and more practice every year….id expect there to be more perfect scorers. Honestly, what’s concerning is how with access to free services, average scores have either dropped or remained stagnant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just starting this journey with a soon to be 9th grader, so we're just starting to figure out the basics. DH and I both realize that college admissions has gotten a lot tougher than when we graduated high school in the mid/late 90s so we are definitely not pressuring our kid for any particular type of school or anything. Honestly he still needs the first few years in HS to figure out what he needs whether that's a small supportive environment or a big flagship with the football scene or whatever.

But as I'm looking at posts here, CC, and just anecdotally, are there just far more kids getting 1400 and 1500+ SAT scores than their used to be? I'm sure the data distribution exists someplace but I haven't run across it yet.

I mean I went to a good public HS in NJ - though no where near the top in NJ; yet DS's Va HS current day is supposed to be MUCH better than the current day standing of my NJ HS. When I was there, my NJ HS usually sent about 15 out of 400 graduates to the Ivys every year and then probably another 15 or so to Duke, Northwestern, NYU, Gtown etc. And even there, it really seemed like a handful of the top super stars would have a 1450+ type of score; certainly not all 30 kids going to the Ivys + top 10 schools had 1500s. It SHOCKS me now that I got into Penn - Wharton undergrad with just a 1360, as nowadays that score would be a - don't even apply; and no I didn't have any superior ECs, they were just all in school type clubs.

Has something changed with the SATs? Do all upper middle class kids do years of SAT prep classes now? Or just smarter kids/the game got more competitive in the last 2 decades where I obviously wasn't paying attention to it?

SAT has been rescaled at least twice since the 90s. Scores do NOT mean what they used to.

- College prof

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:College Board has lowered the standard a lot over the time, particularly with the introduction of digital SAT.

Just like GPA in public schools, every one gets 4.0, now every one get 1500 in digital SAT.

To stand out for T10 or even T25, the kids need to achieve 1550 just to be sure.

Just plain False. My kid took the regular SAT and then the digital. The math section on the first digital(at least-haven't taken one since) was insanely hard. This was evident nation wide.

Evidence says otherwise. Just do some simply googling.

There is no evidence that the digital is easier.

I dare you to find it. Please post it when you do.

It is 100% factual true that the current SAT is easier than the pre1995 SAT. Since then the test has been been renormed multiple times to lower the ceiling, which makes it challenging for colleges to differentiate exceptionally bright kids, from the smarter than average but not exceptional kids. Before 1995 only 5-7 students would get a perfect score each year. This was out of slightly more than a million people. A perfect score only occurred for around 1/200,000 test takers. Now around 400-500 test takers get a perfect score each year, which means a perfect score represents a 1/4,000 test score. A perfect score is 50x more common than before 1995, so the test is unequivocally easier than it used to be.

DP. I don’t see the connection. If I had an exam where there was a significant transformation in free services and boot camps to learn the exam, it’s been integrated into curriculums, and students have access to more and more practice every year….id expect there to be more perfect scorers. Honestly, what’s concerning is how with access to free services, average scores have either dropped or remained stagnant.

They kept the ceiling the same, so the top score is still 1600, but they increased the average composite score from around 910 before the mid 1990s to around 1030 in 2023. With the old test a perfect score was around 3.3 standard deviations. For the 2023 test a perfect score is only 2.6SD above the mean. They absolutely made the test easier by reducing the spread between an average score and a top score.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I blame the internet for making it so much easier to prep for the SAT. Or maybe I blame the internet for exposing it and showing us all it isn't very good at measuring aptitude?

The current SAT is not designed to measure aptitude.

Then why are the most competitive schools requiring it again?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I blame the internet for making it so much easier to prep for the SAT. Or maybe I blame the internet for exposing it and showing us all it isn't very good at measuring aptitude?

The current SAT is not designed to measure aptitude.

Then why are the most competitive schools requiring it again?

DP: Because the test now measures college readiness: knowledge of math, reading, and writing. An aptitude test evaluates a student's natural abilities and strengths.

The College Board no longer considers the test an aptitude test (this is well documented). It hasn't been an aptitude test since the 1990s.

Some history: https://www.erikthered.com/tutor/sat-act-history.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I blame the internet for making it so much easier to prep for the SAT. Or maybe I blame the internet for exposing it and showing us all it isn't very good at measuring aptitude?

The current SAT is not designed to measure aptitude.

Then why are the most competitive schools requiring it again?

DP: Because the test now measures college readiness: knowledge of math, reading, and writing. An aptitude test evaluates a student's natural abilities and strengths.

The College Board no longer considers the test an aptitude test (this is well documented). It hasn't been an aptitude test since the 1990s.

Some history: https://www.erikthered.com/tutor/sat-act-history.html

Thank you.

While most schools are remaining test optional now, does anyone have any insight as to whether the scores are carrying more weight now than they were when they first went TO?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I blame the internet for making it so much easier to prep for the SAT. Or maybe I blame the internet for exposing it and showing us all it isn't very good at measuring aptitude?

The current SAT is not designed to measure aptitude.

Then why are the most competitive schools requiring it again?

DP: Because the test now measures college readiness: knowledge of math, reading, and writing. An aptitude test evaluates a student's natural abilities and strengths.

The College Board no longer considers the test an aptitude test (this is well documented). It hasn't been an aptitude test since the 1990s.

Some history: https://www.erikthered.com/tutor/sat-act-history.html

You can't easily separate out knowledge and aptitude.
Without knowledge (tool), you can't display your aptitude.
Without aptitude (strength), you can't use your knowledge effectively.
I would say if you score higher than 1550, it means you have both aptitude and knowledge.
If one scores lower than 1550, perhaps knowledge is there but aptitude is somewhat lacking.