Prepmedians Blog

Tag: Scoring

  • ACT And SAT Score Conversion

    ACT And SAT Score Conversion

    SAT to ACT Conversion

    Many students are better at the SAT than they are at the ACT and vice-versa, so if you take both tests, you’ll need to perform an SAT to ACT conversion to determine which score to send to your colleges. This chart was made based on the data from both the ACT and the SAT (collegeboard). This will give you an idea of which test you are better at based on the score.

    ACT SAT SAT RANGE
    36 1590 1570-1600
    35 1540 1530-1560
    34 1500 1490-1520
    33 1460 1450-1480
    32 1430 1420-1440
    31 1400 1390-1410
    30 1370 1360-1380
    29 1340 1330-1350
    28 1310 1300-1320
    27 1280 1260-1290
    26 1240 1230-1250
    25 1210 1200-1220
    24 1180 1160-1190
    23 1140 1130-1150
    22 1110 1100-1120
    21 1080 1060-1090
    20 1040 1030-1050
    19 1010 990-1020
    18 970 960-980
    17 930 920-950
    16 890 880-910
    15 850 830-870
    14 800 780-820
    13 760 730-770
    12 710 690-720
    11 670 650-680
    10 630 620-640
    9 590 590-610
  • How to Look at Your ACT and SAT Score?

    How to Look at Your ACT and SAT Score?

    How are the SAT and ACT Scored?

    Before trying to interpret the scores, you need to understand how the scoring systems are for ACT and SAT. The SAT has two sections (Evidence-Based Reading and Writing, and Math), each of which is worth up to 800 points, so you would get a total score out of 1600.

    The ACT has four sections (English, Math, Reading, and Science), each section being scored out of raw scores of 36. Those scores are then averaged to get a final score out of 36.

    What is a Perfect Score?

    Don’t beat yourself up if you didn’t get a perfect score! Only about ~0.03% get a perfect score of 1600 on the SAT and about ~0.01% get a perfect score of 36 on the ACT. Our founder Kalyan Ray-Mazumder who wrote the curriculum for Prepmedians is one of the few people I know who got a perfect score on the test.

    The top tier American colleges like the Ivy-League schools are looking for scores above the 90th percentile. For the SAT, the 90th percentile score is approximately 1350 and for the ACT, the 90th percentile score is approximately 28.

    While a less than perfect score doesn’t dictate your chances with the top colleges and universities, a perfect score doesn’t determine your odds of getting in. There have been a lot of cases where students who have scored perfect scores, even multiple times, still were not able to get into some of the top tier schools. So, if the score you expected was not the score you got, don’t be disappointed.

    High SAT or ACT Score

    When interpreting SAT scores, realize that the average score of all SAT test-takers in 2018 was ~1050. Broken down into sections, that works out to 520 in math, 530 in reading and writing. Realize that getting a score above 1050 itself puts you above the 50th percentile. The average for ACT score falls between 21 and 22. Scoring above a 22 would mean that you have scored above the 50th percentile.

    While there is no one ideal score, you want to interpret the scores based on how selective the colleges in your list are. A 1200 or higher, along with other excellent application factors, should gain you admittance into many highly regarded American colleges. Depending on all the other factors of your application, an average score won’t keep you out of a good school.

    What’s the Worst Score?

    The low end for the SAT is a 400, and the lowest possible ACT score is 1.

    You have to work pretty hard to get a score that bad. Even if you don’t answer a single question, the companies that administer the tests are more likely to throw out your test, assuming an error was made, than to actually send it to any colleges.

    The question has been asked many times whether merely entering your name gets you the minimum SAT and ACT scores, and there seems to be no definitive answer.

  • How is the ACT Scored?

    How is the ACT Scored?

    Overview

    If you’re just starting to prepare for the ACT, you’re probably wondering how the ACT is scored. It’s important to fully understand how the ACT scores their exams in order to get a leg up and prep in a more efficient and effective manner. Below we’ve outlined how the ACT is scored, section by section, with official ACT scoring charts.

    The ACT has four sections: English, Math, Reading, and Science. Each section is given a scaled score between 1 and 36. Your composite score is the average of your four section scores.

    An important note: THERE IS NO POINT DEDUCTION FOR ANSWERING INCORRECTLY ON THE ACT – so NEVER leave a question blank.

    How are raw ACT scores converted into scaled scores?

    A raw score is the total number of questions you answer correctly, which is converted into a scaled score between 1 and 36. The ACT scales scores to make sure their scores are consistent across multiple test dates. See below for an example of how the ACT converts raw scores to scaled scores:
    Screen Shot 2019-07-10 at 4.24.33 PM

    How is a composite score calculated?

    We know that each section (English, Math, Reading, Science) receives a scaled score between 1 and 36, but how do these four scores combine to create a composite score? It’s actually quite simple; your composite score is the average of your four section scores, rounded up to the nearest whole number. Half a point or more is rounded up, less than half a point is rounded down.

    For example, if you got a 24 on English, 25 on Math, 23 on Reading, and 26 on Science:
    (24 + 25 + 23 + 26) / 4 = 24.5

    So your composite score would be a 25.

    What are ACT subscores?

    Not only does the ACT provide a composite score and four individual section scores, you will also receive subscores in three of the four subject areas (English, Math, Reading). This will give you some more information about your strengths and weaknesses.

    Subscores are scaled from your raw score, but range from 1 to 18. There is no direct relationship between subscores and final scaled scores. Subscores merely provide more information about your performance and what you might need to improve.

    Do not worry about ACT subscores. Colleges care more about your ACT composite score, and will also look at your individual section scores.

    ACT Section Breakdown

    How many raw points possible are on each section? How are scores calculated?

    English

    The English section on the ACT has 75 multiple choice questions, so the highest raw score one could achieve is a 75. Questions answered incorrectly or left blank are simply not added on to the raw score.

    There are typically 40 Usage/Mechanics questions and 35 Rhetorical Skills questions.

    For example, if you answer 60 questions correctly on the English section, get 10 wrong, and leave 5 blank, your raw score would be 60. Using the ACT’s raw score to scaled score conversion chart above, you would get a scaled score of 26 for the English section.

    Math

    The Math section on the ACT has 60 multiple choice questions. There are typically 24 Pre-Algebra/Elementary Algebra questions and 18 Plane Geometry/Trigonometry questions.

    For example, if you answer 45 questions correctly, with 14 wrong and 1 left blank, your raw score would be 45. From the conversion chart above this would scale to a 27.

    Reading

    The Reading section on the ACT has 40 multiple choice questions. There are typically 20 Social Studies/Natural Sciences questions and 20 Arts/Literature questions.

    Science

    The Science section on the ACT has 40 multiple choice questions. There are three distinct question types: data representation, research summaries, and conflicting viewpoints.

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    ACT Writing

    The ACT also offers an additional writing section that occurs after the Science section. The writing section is NOT multiple choice – you will be writing the essay by hand. The essay is evaluated by two graders who score your essay from 1-6 based off of four domains; the highest score you can get per domain is 12. Your Writing score is a number between 2 and 12, calculated from the average of your four domain scores.

    One question asked rather frequently: will the writing score affect my composite score? The answer is no, the composite score solely consists of English, Math, Reading, and Science. People usually take ACT Writing because some colleges require the ACT to be taken with Writing.