THE ROAD AHEAD Navigating College Admission Tests Bruce Reed Co-Founder Compass Education Group
Application Bubble Individualized Support iBook: www.compassprep.com/guide
New York Times , “High School Seniors’ Agony” “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.”
New York Times , “High School Seniors’ Agony” “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.”
Holistic Review Test Scores GPA Rigor Demonstrated interest Recommendation Letters Personal Essay Extracurriculars Interview Work / Internships Class Rank AP/IB Scores Legacy Status Financial Need
Grade Inflation
Application Bubble Source: Higher Education Research Institute, UCLA
Standardized Tests Resist Inflation SAT (2015)
Standardized Tests Resist Inflation
Advantage: Students (in most cases) Enrollment by Admission Rate 3% 1% > 50% 16% • Admit Rate: ~ 70% 25-50% • Yield: ~ 33% 10-25% 80% < 10% Stanford (<5%) denied 70% of applicants with perfect test scores
Flexibility ßà ßà Complexity COMMON 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? Should I re-test ? If so, how often? • • Are Subject Tests required? Which colleges require reporting all scores? • • Can the ACT replace Subject Tests? Do colleges combine scores across dates? Easier than ever to apply . . . . . . harder than ever to predict.
Testing Pathways Test Requirements 35 7 850 1,450 SAT or ACT Required Test Optional Subject Tests ACT instead of Subject Tests See pages 4-6 of Compass Guide
SAT and/or ACT Essay: Required? Still Required No Longer Required Brown Columbia Caltech Cornell Claremont McKenna Johns Hopkins Dartmouth MIT Duke Northwestern Harvard NYU Michigan Penn Princeton Swarthmore Stanford Tufts UC’s USC . . . Yale . . .
Test-Optional Wesleyan University Lewis & Clark College Connecticut College Washington and Jefferson College Wake Forest University Worcester Polytechnic Institute Brandeis University American
44 2006: COLLEGES REQUIRE THE SAT SUBJECT TESTS A M H E R S T C O L U M B I A H A V E R F O R D U C D A V I S U V A C O N N E C T I C U T B A R N A R D H O L Y C R O S S U C I R V I N E V A S S A R C O L L E G E W A S H I N G T O N & B O S T O N C O L L E G E C O R N E L L M I T U C L A L E E B O S T O N D A R T M O U T H P O M O N A U C M E R C E D W E L L E S L E Y U N I V E R S I T Y B R A N D E I S D U K E P R I N C E T O N U C R I V E R S I D E W E S L E Y A N B R O W N F R A N K L I N O L I N R I C E U C S A N D I E G O W I L L I A M S U C S A N T A B R Y N M A W R G E O R G E T O W N S W A R T H M O R E W P I B A R B A R A C A L T E C H H A R V A R D T U L A N E U C S A N T A C R U Z Y A L E C A R N E G I E H A R V E Y M U D D U C B E R K E L E Y U P E N N M E L L O N
2016: 5 COLLEGES REQUIRE THE SAT SUBJECT TESTS C O R N E L L M I T C A L T E C H C A R N E G I E H A R V E Y M U D D M E L L O N
Require or “Recommend” or “Consider” Amherst Duke Oberlin UC Santa Cruz Babson Emory Occidental Union Barnard Franklin Olin Pomona U of Delaware Bates George Washington Pratt Institute U of Georgia Boston College Georgetown Princeton UNC Boston University Hamilton Reed U of Rochester Bowdoin Harvard Rice UPenn Brandeis Haverford RPI USC Brown Holy Cross Scripps UVA Bryn Mawr Ithaca Smith Vanderbilt Bucknell Johns Hopkins Stanford Vassar Carleton Kenyon Stevens Institute Wake Forest Case Western Lafayette Swarthmore Washington & Lee Claremont McKenna Macalester Tufts Wash U St. Louis Colby Miami (FL) Tulane Wellesley Colorado College Michigan UC Berkeley Wesleyan Columbia Middlebury UC Irvine William & Mary Connecticut College Mills UCLA Williams Cooper Union Northwestern UC Riverside WPI Dartmouth Notre Dame UC San Diego Yale Davidson NYU UC Santa Barbara
Sensible Sequence ü Fall / Winter (11 th ) PSAT (& Practice ACT) ü Spring SAT (March or May) or ACT (Feb or April) ü Late Spring Subject Tests (May or June) ü Summer Regroup, Review ü NEW: August 2017 SAT ü NEW: July 2018 ACT ü Fall (12 th ) Re-test as Necessary (Sept, Oct or Nov)
SAT Testing Patterns Test-Takers by Season and Date 1,200 Jan 1,000 § Spring junior and fall senior Dec June dates remain most popular. 800 Thousands Nov § Lots of repeat testing 600 between June – Dec. May 400 Jan Oct 200 Dec March Nov Oct 0 Fall/Winter - Jr Spring - Jr Fall/Winter - Sr
Typical Testing Windows SAT: < 900 1 in 3 juniors ACT: < 17 SAT: 900 - 1200 1 in 2 juniors ACT: 17 - 25 SAT: > 1200 1 in 6 juniors ACT: > 25 June of 10 th Grade
Typical Testing Windows SAT: < 900 1 in 3 juniors ACT: < 17 SAT: 900 - 1200 1 in 2 juniors ACT: 17 - 25 February/March October 11 th grade 12 th grade SAT: > 1200 1 in 6 juniors ACT: > 25 Test Begin Prep First Sitting Second Sitting March August SAT May/June October Late Summer or Fall February/April September ACT June October June of 10 th Grade
Typical Testing Windows SAT: < 900 1 in 3 juniors ACT: < 17 May/June December 11 th grade 12 th grade SAT: 900 - 1200 1 in 2 juniors Test Begin Prep First Sitting Second Sitting ACT: 17 - 25 May August/October Summer or Fall SAT June November SAT: > 1200 + 1 in 6 juniors Winter or Spring April September/October ACT: > 25 ACT Refresher June December June of 10 th Grade
Typical Testing Windows SAT: < 900 1 in 3 juniors ACT: < 17 SAT: 900 - 1200 1 in 2 juniors ACT: 17 - 25 SAT: > 1200 1 in 6 juniors ACT: > 25 November June 11 th grade 11 th grade Test Begin Prep First Sitting Second Sitting June of 10 th Grade November March SAT December May/June Summer or Early Fall December April ACT February June
Planning Patterns at Compass Season of Initial Contact Takeaways 45% 40% § Seasonal shift from Spring 35% of junior year to Fall of 30% junior year 25% § Sophomore contacts have 20% increased significantly 15% 10% § Few students wait to contact us until senior year 5% 0% <=Soph Fall Soph Spr Jr Fall Jr Spr Sr Fall 2009 2013 2017
Testing Patterns at Compass Preparation Hours by Season Takeaways 60% 50% § Historically, most prep completed in spring of 40% junior year 30% § Increase in sophomore year preparation 20% § General decrease in senior 10% year preparation 0% Soph Spring Jr Fall Jr Spring Sr Fall 2009 2013 2017
Super-scoring April ACT September ACT English 26 English 29 Math 27 Math 25 Reading 27 Reading 24 Science 23 Science 27 Composite 26 Composite 26 Super-scored ACT English 29 Math 27 Reading 27 Science 27 Composite 28
Structural Highlights of New SAT ü Returns to the 1600-point scale ü Guessing penalty eliminated ( = ACT) ü Calculator and non-calculator sections ü Fewer, longer sections; Text heavy ( = ACT) ü Essay is optional ( = ACT)
Vertical Alignment See page 28 of Compass Guide
PSAT Results – Sample Class Score Change Sophomore to Junior Year 1520 1400 1100 800 Sophomore PSAT n Junior PSAT
National Merit Selection Index Two students receive the same total score: 1460 STUDENT A STUDENT B Reading & Writing 75 750 71 710 75 71 + Math + 75 750 71 710 217 Commended Scholar in CA Semifinalist in CA 221 To Calculate National Merit Selection Index: 1. Drop the zeros. 2. Double Reading & Writing Score. 3. Add together.
Comparing Test Structure
ACT, SAT, or Both?
ACT on the Rise
Test Prep Trends at Compass
Increase in ACT 36s
P/SAT vs ACT Comparison
Subtle Differences Remain Old New Old New Pre-Algebra Geometry SAT SAT ACT SAT SAT ACT Number Properties Similar Triangles Venn Diagrams Perimeter Imaginary Numbers Visualization Sequences Trigonometry Old New Old New Algebra Data Analysis SAT SAT ACT SAT SAT ACT Inequalities Two-way Tables Quadratics Scatterplots Zeros Data Graphics Variation Sampling See pages 46-47 of Compass Guide
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