1990 GRE
Verbal: 780
Quant: 800

——
Son

ACT : 36

1350- early 1990’s. Attended WASP

1520 (2024). Just 1 application to a T-10 and rejected. Was realistic and Aimed lower - T30 to T-50. 1520 today doesn’t mean the same thing as 1350 pre-1995.

Me- SAT only in 1992-1993. Highest score 1010. Applied to a few MD state schools and got in at most except waitlisted at SMCM (my first choice).

My DS- SAT only in 2022. Score was 1130. Applied TO and was accepted everywhere.

Sat 1310 - 1994 (Dad)
Sat 1530 - 2023 (DC1)
Sat 1500 - 2025 (DC2)

^ DC1 got a 35 out of 36 on his ACT.

I came to the US for grad school, and got a perfect score on the GRE without prep. I'm French, and the vocab section seemed to be populated by normal French words

The test is really different for the verbal.

I recall loving the analogies section. And that all junior year in English we learned vocabulary- likely to help with that section of the test. And I don’t recall the readings being very science heavy - DD complains that they are very science-focused in content vs just normal language.

Anonymous wrote:The scores can’t really be directly compared, but i think that since the National Merit Program is set up on percentages, it gives a better idea. I was a NMF, one of my kids was also a NMF, and one was a Commended Student. So, even though the actual scores were different, the scores reflected a similar level of success with that particular test.

I am NMF, DH Commended, my Father NMF, my Mother Commended, Aunt Commended, Older Kid Commended, Younger Kid had exact same PSAT as older kid

Differences between us seem to be related to quantity of reading, innate memory (different than IQ), math ability, confidence with test-taking. There were shortfalls in most of our public education. Being an auto-didact helps. My kids had math prep, which was needed.

And the nominees for most pathetic thread of the day are…

The scores can’t really be directly compared, but i think that since the National Merit Program is set up on percentages, it gives a better idea. I was a NMF, one of my kids was also a NMF, and one was a Commended Student. So, even though the actual scores were different, the scores reflected a similar level of success with that particular test.

I had a 1300 (620V/680M) in 1993 or 1994 (honestly forget whether I took it as a junior or a senior). DC is prepping now to take the SAT in August for the first time but got a 1320 on the PSAT last October as a 10th grader (but taking the NMSQT version - the school gives it to all 10th at the same time as 11th) going in entirely cold with no prep or practice. So I’m pretty confident my kid will score higher than I did.

My kid is also a much better student than I was.

A better question to ask is the percentile, not the numbers.

The current SAT and ACT scores just can’t be directly compared to what we got in the 80s/90s. There have been too many revamps since then.

ACT 25 (1987?)
1560
1120

Curious. Did you take both tests or just one? Did your teen do both? Do any test preps?