College Admission Testing Strategies Adam Ingersoll Co-Founder & Principal, Compass Education Group Highlights of Guide to Tes+ng SAT & ACT Score Ranges at 360 Popular Colleges pp. 8-14 SAT vs ACT Score Comparison/Concordance pp. 18-23 SAT Essay and ACT WriIng Scoring and Policies pp. 50-57 SAT Subject Test Requirements and Policies pp. 60-63 ReporIng, Withholding, and Combining Scores pp. 66-67
Admission Criteria GPA Rigor Test Scores Demonstrated interest Demonstrated interest Recommendation Letters Recommendation Letters Personal Essay Personal Essay Extracurricular Activities Extracurricular Activities Work / Internships Work / Internships Interview Interview Class Rank Class Rank AP/IB Scores AP/IB Scores Legacy Status Legacy Status Financial Need Financial Need
Unprecedented Pressure? New York Times , “High School Seniors’ Agony” Written in 1957 “Competition for college admission has created an unprecedented time of intense worry.” “ Getting into college has never been so competitive. ” “Standards have shot up. Parents who got into top notch colleges with average grades and good overall qualifications cannot understand why their kids can’t.”
Flexibility ßà ßà Complexity FREQUENT QUESTIONS ABOUT TESTING PRACTICAL TACTICAL • • Do I need to take admission tests? If optional, should I submit my scores? • • Should I take the SAT, ACT, or both? When should I begin/end my testing & prep? • • Is the SAT or ACT essay necessary? How many times should I test? • • Are Subject Tests required? Which colleges require reporting all scores? Does the ACT replace Subject Tests? Do colleges combine scores across dates? • • Easier than ever to apply . . . . . . harder than ever to predict.
Application Bubble A Bad Response to Anxiety The greatest number of colleges to which a single student applied in 2014 was… 86 Source: Naviance
Test Requirements Test Requirements 35 7 900 1,450 SAT or ACT Required Test Optional Subject Tests ACT instead of Subject Tests See pages 4-6 of Compass Guide
Selective and Test-Optional Wesleyan University Lewis & Clark College Connecticut College Washington and Je ff erson College Wake Forest University Worcester Polytechnic Institute Brandeis University American
Cynicism re Test-Optional Policies “ Why Test-Optional Colleges are Too Good to Be True ” TeenLife.com, May 2016 “ Even though colleges tell students submitting scores is optional, it signals the college that the student has something to hide. Colleges typically assume these students have low test scores .” Suzanne Sha ff er, IEC “… applicants to ODU and elsewhere who don't submit scores will be particularly scrutinized for other evidence of potential for success .” Jane H. Dane, VP Enrollment Management
Grade Inflation
Standardized Tests Resist Inflation
Standardized Tests Resist Inflation SAT (2015)
Competitive Landscape Enrollment by Admission Rate 3% 1% > 50% 16% Nationally: 25-50% • Admit Rate: 70% 10-25% • Yield: 33% 80% < 10% Stanford (<5%) denied 70% of applicants with perfect test scores
Undergrads Who Earn Ph.D.’s* Top 10 Top 20 Not Top 20 Stanford Reed #4 Harvard #12 Carleton #6 Princeton #13 Grinnell #7 Yale #14 Oberlin #10 St John’s College #17
ACT’s Record Growth
Class of 2017: Compromised Options “Old SAT” “New SAT” ACT Plenty of practice Was o ff ered for the last Practice tests were tests available time in January 2016 limited and unproven Prep materials and Accelerated timeline Concordance tools were o ff erings were was problematic controversial and confusing, well-established for some students making comparisons di ffi cult All test dates were Was recommended Two month wait available with prompt only for students with for reporting of scores reporting of scores high initial scores on initial test dates
TESTING TURMOIL A TULMUTUOUS TRANSITION J u n ‘ 1 5 : S A T t e s t m i s p r i n t July ‘15: SAT section from June thrown out Fall ‘15: ACT & SAT score reporting delays Fall ‘15: ACT essay scoring issues Fall ‘15: Widespread reports of cheating on SAT overseas Nov ‘15: Addl. SAT practice tests through Khan canceled Dec ‘15: PSAT score reporting delay Mar ‘16: New SAT debuts, 10 week wait for scores Jul ’16: Reuters uncovers international ACT cheating scandal in program owned by ACT, Inc Aug ’16: Ex-College Board employee’s home raided by FBI
Rise of the ACT at Compass 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% SAT 50% ACT 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Increase in ACT 36s
Class of 2018 and Beyond: Class of 2018 and Beyond: Two Equally Viable Options Two Equally Viable Options X “Old SAT” SAT ACT The available practice Discontinued as of Several “live” tests now tests are growing January 2016 available, and practice stale and limited vs. SAT test library is growing Controversy over scoring Scaling is finalized of Writing (essay) seems but still some confusion to be settling down around concordance Will add a July 2018 Added an August 2017 test date, score reporting test date and will shorten continues to be prompt reporting wait time
Comparing Test Structure
Twins?
Who Favors the SAT and Why? PSAT & practice test scores clearly stronger than ACT SAT pacing and structure feels more comfortable Dread of ACT Science can’t be overcome Will need SAT for National Merit Scholarship Unavoidable conflicts with ACT dates Special accommodations granted by SAT but not ACT Believer in “no stone left unturned” approach
Comparing P/SAT & ACT Scores
National Merit Funnel See page 16 of Compass Guide
National Merit Selection Index Higher Total PSAT Can Be Lower Selection Index STUDENT A STUDENT B 710 71 Reading & Writing 730 73 73 71 + Math + 720 72 690 69 Nat. Merit Semifinalist in IA 214 Commended Scholar 215 To Calculate National Merit Selection Index: 1. Drop the zeros. 2. Double Reading & Writing Score. 3. Add together.
PSAT Results – Sample Class Score Change Sophomore to Junior Year Score Change Sophomore to Junior Year 240 240 200 200 160 160 120 120 Sophomore PSAT Sophomore PSAT n Junior PSAT Junior PSAT
ACT Math: Structure & Pacing Structure: Pacing Concerns: • 60 ques@ons in 60 minutes • Average 1 minute per question* • Content breakdown • Di ffi culty escalates steadily • 23% Pre-Algebra throughout • 17% Elementary Algebra • Problems at the end are • 15% Intermediate Algebra much harder but worth • 15% Coordinate Geometry same points • 23% Plane Geometry • Rushing and cherry-picking • 7% Trigonometry can be dangerous
ACT Math: Di ffi culty Distribution Data reflects performance of several thousand first-time ACT takers on eleven di ff erent tests. See Compass Guide page 45
ACT Math: Where to Invest E ff ort Percentage of Possible Points (By Student Score Range) 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31 33 35 37 39 41 43 45 47 49 51 53 55 57 59 10 20 30 40 50 60
What Do Test Scores Reflect? Content Content Command of Command of Knowledge Knowledge Strategies Strategies Optimal Time Optimal Time Emotional Emotional Management Management Control Control
SAT and/or ACT Essay: Required? Yes, Still Will No, Not Anymore Caltech Columbia Claremont McKenna Cornell Dartmouth Johns Hopkins Duke MIT Harvard Northwestern Michigan NYU Princeton Penn Stanford Swarthmore UC’s Tufts Yale USC
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