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.

Wow, what a clueless post. It's an easy start to life with a seven figure trust. My kids need to be able to support themselves in an increasingly competitive and inequitable world. If they want to have good jobs, own their own homes, have children, or even have decent healthcare they can't afford to be "average goofballs". What you are hearing on this thread is worry. Parents are increasingly worried that their children will not have the same opportunities that they had.

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.

I’m one of those posters and that’s not exactly how I see it. I see a kid who puts a lot of time and effort into her grades, and who reads a ton in her own, and who is a great writer, and I have no doubt that she would be able to handle the rigor in any college humanities program (that’s her thing—STEM would be a different story). For whatever reason, she’s not able to convey that with the SAT test. Her brain is not wired that way, but she’s got the raw materials to do good work.

I, on the other hand, rarely ever cracked a book for pleasure in high school and didn’t spend one second prepping for the test, and I got an amazing score the first time. My brain is wired for standardized test, but once I got to college I just got kind of lazy and didn’t feel like putting much effort in anymore. When this test makes you feel super smart, you might crumble when things actually start to get intellectually challenging.

So, for me, it makes test optional make a lot more sense. Testing well does not always equal natural intellectual curiosity or a propensity for long term success.

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 not unbiased! It's biased in favor of kids from upper SES homes with college educated parents who can pay for prep courses.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:730V/740M superscore-white female, do the AP score make it look better---5/5 calc BC, 5 comp sci A, 5 AP Spanish is this good enough for top engineering?

Top? MIT, Stanford, GA Tech...maybe not. However Cal doesn't accept scores.

Ga tech i think is fine, kids with a 4 in calc bc got in so there is that
ya-for MIT you most definitely need an 800 in math, stanford at least above 770
she isnt applying to Cali I dont think

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.

+1

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.

Mine got a 1220 and that was a huge improvement, LOL.

Anonymous wrote:Wow, it seems like people's kids are getting really high scores overall. I thought it was great that my kid finally hit a 1300, but seems like a lot of 1400 plus scores, based on the posts here.

If your kid gets a high score, it is natural to want to brag. Doing it here is anonymous so a decent outlet, but it definitely skews the results. 1300 is amazing! Congrats!

Anonymous wrote:3rd test, 1410, super score 1430. This is a super high achieving kid with a perfect GPA with rigorous courses. I am proud but admittedly seeing all these high score of course makes me wonder if it’s not good enough. She has a range of schools she’s applying to, one big reach and I don’t think she cares about that one as much.

I don’t think she has the steam to do it again, but I’ll ask.

I hate that there’s so much riding on this test.

This is a lot like my kid, although I doubt she broke the 1400 barrier with this one (also her third). She also has a perfect GPA with top rigor and an equal amount of 5s and 4s on APs. She already signed up for the September test and then I think she’ll just call it a day.

Wow, it seems like people's kids are getting really high scores overall. I thought it was great that my kid finally hit a 1300, but seems like a lot of 1400 plus scores, based on the posts here.

3rd test, 1410, super score 1430. This is a super high achieving kid with a perfect GPA with rigorous courses. I am proud but admittedly seeing all these high score of course makes me wonder if it’s not good enough. She has a range of schools she’s applying to, one big reach and I don’t think she cares about that one as much.

I don’t think she has the steam to do it again, but I’ll ask.

I hate that there’s so much riding on this test.

We’ve decided to go the superscore route after mid-1300s scores first three times. Took it in August and improved math substantially with a lot of focus there. English was just ok but who cares. Taking it again in September and October for a total of six times. Kid actually enjoys taking it and challenging themselves in a different way each time.

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.

Yeah it's tough (my kid is the 1450 scorer) - she studied so hard all summer trying to reach that 1500. She is looking at top LACs so she has the option to go TO. 1450 puts her in range to submit but it's a tough call. There's no explanation for why the score drops in the room other than general test anxiety. She'll try one more time in October.

Have her focus energy on connecting with AOs/conveying fit with school. That may help her take her mind off the stress of trying to accurately complete a few more questions. In other words, bolster confidence in other areas.

Anonymous wrote:Don’t know. It’s my kid’s score, not mine, so I don’t even know what it is yet.

Me neither! But this thread is a great reminder.

DD got an 1150. Just reporting this kind of score so that people realize not every e gets a 1400+