Girls Achieve Rare SAT Scores

While the average reading and math scores on the SAT fell again this year, the test results showed a new gain for girls.

For the first time in a generation, girls outperformed boys on one section of the exam, edging them out by 11 points on the writing portion of the test. The results raise new questions about gender, learning and a test that has become an American rite of passage.

"Since the '70s, we haven't seen women score better than men on the SAT, so that is dramatic … absolutely," said Drew Deutsch, a vice president at Princeton Review, which offers preparation courses for the test.

The test results released Tuesday were the first batch of SAT scores since the exam was revamped to include a graded 25-minute essay. High school junior Ana Merida, who is studying for the test now, said she believes the new test plays to her strengths.

"I can look at the question I am being asked and put my own knowledge and thoughts in the essay, rather than … filling out a bubble," Merida said.

And the essay may be something that may benefit all girls. Neuroscientists say, in general, that girls' brains may be better wired for the demands of open-ended essay questions than those of their male counterparts.

"They tend to have better attention spans, and that is something that the essay question demands," said Dr. Jay Selman at the Columbia University Medical Center. "The essay question also demands a lot of organizational skills -- these arise in large part from the frontal lobe."

And girls tend to perform better on tasks that use that part of the brain.

"Placed in a situation where they have to make a decision, they are going to think about the possibilities and ruminate a little bit more than boys," Deutsch said.

But these qualities are not necessarily an advantage on the rest of the SAT, which brings a barrage of multiple-choice questions for which there is little time to ruminate. And despite the gain for girls this year on one part of the test, boys still score 26 points higher overall.

Ironically, the SAT was designed to help predict how students would do in college. But while boys still score higher on the tests, girls get better college grades.

SAT Scores and Family Income

By CATHERINE RAMPELL

Much has been written about the relationship between SAT scores and test-takers’ family income. Generally speaking, the wealthier a student’s family is, the higher the SAT score.

Let’s take a look at how income correlated with scores this year. About two-thirds of test-takers voluntarily report their family incomes when they sit down to take the SAT. Using this information, the College Board breaks down the average scores for 10 income groups, each in a $20,000 range.

First, here are the individual test sections:

Source: College Board

Source: College Board

Source: College Board

Here are all three test sections next to each other (zoomed in on the vertical axis, so you can see the variation among income groups a little more clearly):

Source: College Board

A few observations:

• There’s a very strong positive correlation between income and test scores. (For the math geeks out there, the R² for each test average/income range chart is about 0.95.)
• On every test section, moving up an income category was associated with an average score boost of over 12 points.
• Moving from the second-highest income group and the highest income group seemed to show the biggest score boost. However, keep in mind the top income category is uncapped, so it includes a much broader spectrum of families by wealth.

Are My SAT Scores Good Enough?

What are good SAT scores? Do you have the SAT scores you need to get into your top choice schools? This article explains the relationship between college admissions and SAT scores. You can also check out these SAT links (or ACT links):

• SAT Comparison Charts: the Ivy League | top private universities (non-Ivy) | top liberal arts colleges | more top liberal arts colleges | top public universities | top public liberal arts colleges | University of California campuses | Cal State campuses | SUNY campuses
• 20 Great Colleges for Not-So-Great Scores
• Test-Optional Colleges
• Practice sentence completion questions

Answer: SAT scores are just one of many criteria used by colleges to make admissions decisions. Nevertheless, their importance shouldn’t be underestimated. As much as admissions officers say they take an open-minded and holistic approach to their decisions, SAT scores can make or break an application. And let’s face it -- it’s easier to compare numerical data than it is to decide whether a semester in France should be ranked higher than a state soccer championship.

Also, schools usually make their SAT data public, and they know that their reputations depend upon high numbers. A college won’t be considered “highly selective” or “elite” if its students have an average SAT math score of 470.

So what is a good SAT score? The exam consists of three parts: Critical Reading, Mathematics and Writing. The scores from each section can range from 200 to 800, so the best possible total score is 2400. The average score for each section is roughly 500, so the average total score is about 1500.

Very few students get a perfect SAT score, even those at the country’s top colleges. The list below shows the middle range of SAT scores for different schools. The middle 50% of admitted students fell within these numbers. Keep in mind that 25% of students who were admitted scored below the lower numbers listed here.

Finally, you'll see that some of the school profiles include the critical reading and math scores, but not the writing scores. This is because the writing part of the exam is still new, and many schools do not yet use it in their admissions decisions. We're likely to see that change in the next couple years as colleges figure out the relationship between the writing score and academic success.

Click on the school names to see the full profiles.

Auburn (Main Campus)

• Critical Reading: 520 - 620
• Mathematics: 550 - 650
• Writing: 520 - 620

Carleton

• Critical Reading: 670 - 750
• Mathematics: 660 - 740
• Writing: 640 - 740

Duke

• Critical Reading: 690 - 770
• Mathematics: 690 - 790
• Writing: 680 - 780

Harvard

• Critical Reading: 690 - 800
• Mathematics: 700 - 790
• Writing: 690 - 780

MIT, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

• Critical Reading: 660 - 760
• Mathematics: 720 - 800
• Writing: 660 - 750

Middlebury

• Critical Reading: 630 - 740
• Mathematics: 640 - 740
• Writing: 630 - 740

Pomona

• Critical Reading: 690 - 760
• Mathematics: 680 - 760
• Writing: 680 - 760

Stanford

• Critical Reading: 660 - 760
• Mathematics: 680 - 780
• Writing: 670 - 770

UCLA

• Critical Reading: 570 - 680
• Mathematics: 610 - 720
• Writing: 580 - 690

By Allen Grove, About.com

Some Colleges Opting Out of the SAT ‘Score Choice’ Option

I recently answered the question "should I cancel my SAT score?" with information regarding the upcoming Score Choice option on the SAT. To refresh, the SAT used to require that all scores from every test administration be sent to colleges. With Score Choice, students are permitted to send only the scores of their choosing to colleges. In other words, they may choose to send only their top combined score, and the university would never see the lower scores.

However, this idealism seems to have changed.

It has now become clear that colleges can opt out of Score Choice, and require that applicants report every SAT score. Newsweek has indicated that Stanford, Cornell, Pomona, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Southern California will demand all scores. Other schools, including Harvard and the University of Chicago, say they will honor Score Choice. Many more, such as Yale and Princeton, say they have yet to decide.

http://acceptedtocollege.com/blog/

This may be disappointing news for several students who believed Score Choice to be the cure of test taking anxiety. However, remember that the playing field has not really changed. Just because certain schools are requiring all reports does not mean that having lower scores will necessarily preclude you from admission; colleges still view the entire application -- scores included -- in totality. All this means is that when you decide to take the SAT, you should be ready for it.

Stanford Rejects SAT Score Choice

January 07, 2009 02:36 PM ET

Stanford has rejected the College Board's new Score Choice program, which would allow students to pick which SAT scores to send to colleges, the Stanford Daily reports. Stanford said it will not participate in the program and will continue to consider all of an applicant's SAT scores.

"We want to discourage students from taking the SAT more than once or twice and believe that programs like Score Choice encourage applicants with resources to take the SAT excessively to improve their scores," the admissions director said.