Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC missed 2 questions on one and got a perfect. It depends on the test and the year.

DC missed 3 questions on one section and was at 760, so you cannot miss 4 questions and have a perfect score.

I said 2 questions, not 4. And it depends on the section and the year, they reweigh the scores.

Anonymous wrote:DC missed 2 questions on one and got a perfect. It depends on the test and the year.

DC missed 3 questions on one section and was at 760, so you cannot miss 4 questions and have a perfect score.

DC missed 2 questions on one and got a perfect. It depends on the test and the year.

Anonymous[b wrote:]Kids are getting smarter,[/b] whether due to less lead in the environment, more parental attention, better schools or whatever-- that's why they adjust the scoring so the same score corresponds roughly to the same percentile in that generation's kids.

Wrong. The SAT average was about 420 in the 1980's to the early 90's. A "recentering" was done for tests starting in 1995, to move the average scores to an average of 500 which is halfway between 200 and 800.
It is now much easier to score a 1600 on the exam. A pre-1995 score of 730 or above on the Verbal and 780 or above on Math will return the post-1995 test taker a "perfect" 800 score on each test. The "minimum" score on the Verbal exam (presumably, the score you would get if you left all questions blank) is now 30 points higher, at 230. The minimum score on the Math exam is still 200.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The SAT scores were "recentered" in 1995. The average score before 1995 was about 900, in 1996, the average jumped to about 1050. A 700 math score 20 years ago was much more difficult than a 700 now. You can also miss 4 or 5 questions and still receive a perfect score. Other reasons for higher scores of course are all of the prep courses that are taken by affluent kids.

You cannot miss 4 questions and get a perfect score. The most recent SAT curves have been quite harsh.

You can usually miss 1-3 questions on the verbal section and still end up with a 1600. A 1600 does not mean you have a raw score of 100 %. That is not how the SAT is graded.

Anonymous wrote:Kids are getting smarter, whether due to less lead in the environment, more parental attention, better schools or whatever-- that's why they adjust the scoring so the same score corresponds roughly to the same percentile in that generation's kids.

more Asians now. Hence, higher scores. Nothing to do with lead in the environment

Kids are getting smarter, whether due to less lead in the environment, more parental attention, better schools or whatever-- that's why they adjust the scoring so the same score corresponds roughly to the same percentile in that generation's kids.

In the 80s, it was a 1600 point scale. Then sometime in the early 90s, they readjusted the scale so it was "easier" to get a slightly higher score. At some point they added another 800 points to something. So yes, a 1400 in the mid-80s was pretty darn good. I missed one question and got a high 15-something and got into every school I applied to. Different times, and my cohort was a slight baby bust anyway.

The 95th percentile hasn't change.

Yes. Add about 70 points to your old score.

Anonymous wrote:The SAT scores were "recentered" in 1995. The average score before 1995 was about 900, in 1996, the average jumped to about 1050. A 700 math score 20 years ago was much more difficult than a 700 now. You can also miss 4 or 5 questions and still receive a perfect score. Other reasons for higher scores of course are all of the prep courses that are taken by affluent kids.

That's not true about missing questions. My DC missed 3 math questions and it dropped him to a 710.

Anonymous wrote:The SAT scores were "recentered" in 1995. The average score before 1995 was about 900, in 1996, the average jumped to about 1050. A 700 math score 20 years ago was much more difficult than a 700 now. You can also miss 4 or 5 questions and still receive a perfect score. Other reasons for higher scores of course are all of the prep courses that are taken by affluent kids.

You cannot miss 4 questions and get a perfect score. The most recent SAT curves have been quite harsh.

did I hear that the test is changing again for next year? new scoring too I assume?

The SAT scores were "recentered" in 1995. The average score before 1995 was about 900, in 1996, the average jumped to about 1050. A 700 math score 20 years ago was much more difficult than a 700 now. You can also miss 4 or 5 questions and still receive a perfect score. Other reasons for higher scores of course are all of the prep courses that are taken by affluent kids.

Back when I was in high school, a 1300 was a perfectly respectable SAT score and most kids would gain e trance to the high level SLACs and school like UMichigan, and those with scores of 1400 and above were basically shoo ins for ivies. I don't have a high schooler yet but many friends do, and I feel like all the kids I hear about have SAT scores of 2200 and above, which would have been above 1450 on the old SAT, and these kids with the 2200-2300 scores are not shoo ins for UMichigan or the high tier SLACs. I know people say it is harder to grt into college now than in the 1980s due to increased number of applicants, etc, but that wouldn't explain why the SAT scores seem to be higher on average. I'm sure those of you with high school aged kids can offer some insight to this curious parent.