4 ms·

SAT/ACT difficulty ceiling is too low. 10% applicants scored higher than 1350, which is around 1350/1600 = 81%. Should made it so only less than 1% applicants s

by eunos 3y ago

SAT/ACT difficulty ceiling is too low. 10% applicants scored higher than 1350, which is around 1350/1600 = 81%. Should made it so only less than 1% applicants scored higher than 80%.

dmurray 3y ago
Why is that too low? It seems like 250 points and 20% of the questions is plenty of room to distinguish the good from the excellent. Even the most elite universities don't need to distinguish between the top 0.1% and the top 0.5%. 10% of applicants getting the top marks 1600/1600 - which happens on other tests! - would indicate a problem.
- ghaff 3y ago
  It's been a long time since I've known someone involved with admissions at a top school. But my understanding was that not only were quantitative academic scores only part of the process, but by aand large they didn't really use SATs to fine tune admission decisions at the very top of the scale. They used SATs to set an academic floor and, while higher was better, that was only one of the factors in play at that point.
- eunos 3y ago
  My ideal test would be something like JEE Mains where getting 200 out of 300 means you are top of 99.4% applicants.
  - ghaff 3y ago
    Except as I wrote earlier, most top schools in the US don't care about discriminating using standardized tests to that degree. They want to apply a reasonable filter and then move on to other aspects of the application. One may disagree with that approach but pretty much no top school in the US wants to admit solely (or maybe even primarily) on the basis of a standardized test score.
jaybrendansmith 3y ago
This was my thought. Should be very difficult to score high, with score as close to IQ as possible (100=1000). We'll see how many people get a 1600 at that point.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
Ferret7446 3y ago
I imagine that will raise uncomfortable questions about the achievement gap, as removing the cap will make the gap even more stark.

by eunos 3y ago

SAT/ACT difficulty ceiling is too low. 10% applicants scored higher than 1350, which is around 1350/1600 = 81%. Should made it so only less than 1% applicants scored higher than 80%.

dmurray 3y ago

Why is that too low? It seems like 250 points and 20% of the questions is plenty of room to distinguish the good from the excellent. Even the most elite universities don't need to distinguish between the top 0.1% and the top 0.5%. 10% of applicants getting the top marks 1600/1600 - which happens on other tests! - would indicate a problem.

ghaff 3y ago
It's been a long time since I've known someone involved with admissions at a top school. But my understanding was that not only were quantitative academic scores only part of the process, but by aand large they didn't really use SATs to fine tune admission decisions at the very top of the scale. They used SATs to set an academic floor and, while higher was better, that was only one of the factors in play at that point.
eunos 3y ago
My ideal test would be something like JEE Mains where getting 200 out of 300 means you are top of 99.4% applicants.
- ghaff 3y ago
  Except as I wrote earlier, most top schools in the US don't care about discriminating using standardized tests to that degree. They want to apply a reasonable filter and then move on to other aspects of the application. One may disagree with that approach but pretty much no top school in the US wants to admit solely (or maybe even primarily) on the basis of a standardized test score.

jaybrendansmith 3y ago

This was my thought. Should be very difficult to score high, with score as close to IQ as possible (100=1000). We'll see how many people get a 1600 at that point.

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

Ferret7446 3y ago

I imagine that will raise uncomfortable questions about the achievement gap, as removing the cap will make the gap even more stark.