Anonymous wrote:1560 is at the 99th percentile.

1 in 100 is a lot of people.

Also 1560 is the top 1% of single-sitting scores, but most colleges take superscores. So it’s even more people.

The parenting fail is expecting your kid to be in the top 1%.

1560 is at the 99th percentile.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One and done 1570. Took in fall 2024.
Practiced on own - no tutors or test prep.

Always was a voracious reader and good at math.

But didn’t learn grammar in MCPS. I remember getting a workbook during 5/th/6th grades and teaching kid myself. I Also home-taught all the math that was skipped over during Covid.
Not having textbooks is a real shame - makes it so hard for the kids to learn. At least with a textbook, you could self-learn if the teacher isn’t very effective.

Not helpful reply, just a humble brag. DC didn’t take the digital test.

3 kids:
1. 1540 in 2022
2. 1580 in 2024
3. 1380 in 2025 (1st time, digital test)

I’ve been told the new digital test is harder than the old paper format. The question banks are dynamic and change depending how you do in the first section. I’m told there are still a lot of kinks being worked out. Also, college board hasn’t released as many digital practice tests.

They are different people!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our oldest is a junior so only recently started taking SAT/ACT. Before we had or own first hand experience, we used to hear everyone got 1560-1590 in their SAT. After the first couple tries, all the so called smart kids at our school only got 1420-1480. Is the scoring tougher now or were people always exaggerating?

Its not tough for good students who practice, if any gaps in foundation, get 10 sessions with a math tutor to find and fix. An incentive of $1000 for the kid to improve can do miracles.

I tried bribing my kid with almost double for something they wanted and it didn't work. Some kids take bribes, others will not.

The parenting fail happened way before the bribe. The bribe is just another example of where you went wrong.

Anonymous wrote:One and done 1570. Took in fall 2024.
Practiced on own - no tutors or test prep.

Always was a voracious reader and good at math.

But didn’t learn grammar in MCPS. I remember getting a workbook during 5/th/6th grades and teaching kid myself. I Also home-taught all the math that was skipped over during Covid.
Not having textbooks is a real shame - makes it so hard for the kids to learn. At least with a textbook, you could self-learn if the teacher isn’t very effective.

Not helpful reply, just a humble brag. DC didn’t take the digital test.

3 kids:
1. 1540 in 2022
2. 1580 in 2024
3. 1380 in 2025 (1st time, digital test)

I’ve been told the new digital test is harder than the old paper format. The question banks are dynamic and change depending how you do in the first section. I’m told there are still a lot of kinks being worked out. Also, college board hasn’t released as many digital practice tests.

Anonymous wrote:There is a myth of everyone and their mother gets a 1530 on the SAT.

Someone did an analysis of all 1530+ SAT scorers and where they attend college. There are way more admission slots to the top 25 colleges than there are 1530+ SAT scorers in the universe.

Answering your post from P. 1

Right after you posted, half a dozen parents bragged about their wunderkinds scoring well above 1500.

DCUM is plagued with 1% er, private-school mommies and those who have supplemented the daylights out of their already over-privileged children.

This forum is not at all reality; it is a tiny privilege-bubble.

Anonymous wrote:Our oldest is a junior so only recently started taking SAT/ACT. Before we had or own first hand experience, we used to hear everyone got 1560-1590 in their SAT. After the first couple tries, all the so called smart kids at our school only got 1420-1480. Is the scoring tougher now or were people always exaggerating?

No idea what other kids scored. Never a topic of conversation. Only scores i see are from anonymous posters on the internet, news sources related to colleges and schools themselves.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s harder to score at the very high end since the test changed most recently

That's what I am seeing.
Lots of 1550+ prior to recent changes this year. Now kids who were getting those scores (or higher) on practice tests are getting 1450.....
everyone (including tutors) is scratching their heads.

😄 That's a lot of head scratching

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our oldest is a junior so only recently started taking SAT/ACT. Before we had or own first hand experience, we used to hear everyone got 1560-1590 in their SAT. After the first couple tries, all the so called smart kids at our school only got 1420-1480. Is the scoring tougher now or were people always exaggerating?

Neither. Some people simply do better than these so-called smart kids.

+1

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s harder to score at the very high end since the test changed most recently

A lot on reddit about this. The average is shifting down about 50 points

I was going to refute this, but then I realized my kid’s score went down 50 points also - from last Nov to March.

One and done 1570. Took in fall 2024.
Practiced on own - no tutors or test prep.

Always was a voracious reader and good at math.

But didn’t learn grammar in MCPS. I remember getting a workbook during 5/th/6th grades and teaching kid myself. I Also home-taught all the math that was skipped over during Covid.
Not having textbooks is a real shame - makes it so hard for the kids to learn. At least with a textbook, you could self-learn if the teacher isn’t very effective.

Digital test means less room for error to get a high score. Even 2-3 questions wrong on each section can put you close to 1500.

My older child took the paper test and found it easy to study to get above 1530 on the first try. My younger child took many digital practice tests and the results were all over the place. That child did exceed older child’s score in actual digital SAT, but only by studying until they were getting above 1550 on multiple CB digital practice tests. Even then, DC2 randomly got in the 1400s on one later practice test. It seemed like doing very well on the real digital SAT took _much_ more work.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our oldest is a junior so only recently started taking SAT/ACT. Before we had or own first hand experience, we used to hear everyone got 1560-1590 in their SAT. After the first couple tries, all the so called smart kids at our school only got 1420-1480. Is the scoring tougher now or were people always exaggerating?

Its not tough for good students who practice, if any gaps in foundation, get 10 sessions with a math tutor to find and fix. An incentive of $1000 for the kid to improve can do miracles.

I tried bribing my kid with almost double for something they wanted and it didn't work. Some kids take bribes, others will not.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:this Sept SAT was the easiest per my kid. ended with a 1580 after a spring test of 1500 and last fall a 1480

Agreed. My kid got a 1600 with no missed questions in September. August score was very strong but it jumped almost 100 points.

DP. The takeaway: multiple retakes until you think you've topped out.