ACT/SAT Bombshell: The New Official Conversion Table Twists the Top End of the Curve

Close to three years ago, the initial incarnation of the New SAT/ACT conversion table came out. Universities needed something to compare the ACT to the new SAT that debuted in March 2016 side-by-side. That grid has been used by colleges for the past few admissions cycles to make apples-to-apples comparisons.

As time went on, both Edison Prep’s own data and our gut-check conversations with other full-time professional tutors came to the consensus that at the top end, the curve seemed overly punitive towards  SAT scores and overly generous towards ACT scores. For example, on the conversion scale, an ACT of 33.0 officially converted to an SAT of 1490. Meanwhile, our data and the data of our professional colleagues would typically see 13-15 scores of 33+ for every one score of 1490+. It wasn’t tremendously inaccurate, but it was enough that many of our highest scoring students who were dead even on the two chose the ACT after observing many of their peers who are a year older hit a wall around 1470 or so that didn’t exist the same way for the 33-36 ACT range. Our advice was based on the existing conversion grid, since those are the rules of the road and since admissions committees will use whatever the officially “blessed” conversion grid is, not the opinions of tutors in the trenches. We also mentioned that eventually, the day would come when the ACT and SAT would pool their data to produce an updated score conversion grid that would likely correct the snafu at the top end of the curve.

That time is now. This week, the ACT released an updated ACT/SAT concordance grid. At the top end of the curve, things have shifted meaningfully. We color-coded each ACT score from 36 to 29 in the same colors on both the old and the new curve to allow for easy side-by-side comparison.

The main takeaways from the new score conversion grid are as follows:
1. Most ACT scores of 29-36 shifted down by approximately one point relative to the old conversion scale, with SAT scores of 1330+ shifting upwards by 30-40 points.
2. This is a net positive development. An accurate conversion scale is one that helps admissions committees and avoids confusion among parents/students.
3. For students in the top 10-15% of the score curve, the toughest part of further improving one’s score remains exactly the same. For the SAT, the sheer rigor and highbrow nature of the SAT reading passages remains the tail that wags the dog. For the ACT, raw speed (ability to finish) and the ACT math content that has been growing steadily harder/more obscure for the last three years remain the primary barriers.
4. This new conversion grid has zero impact on the score curve for SAT scores below 1190 / ACT scores below 24.75. If you look at the full 0-36/0-1600 data linked at the very bottom of this post, the scores stayed almost exactly the same for the bottom 75% of the score distribution.

New SAT to ACT Conversion Curve for the 1330-1600 range:

(Note: For the side-by-side analysis of the full 1030-1600 range, click here.)

“Isn’t this much ado about nothing? It’s just 1.0-1.5 points or 30-50 points.”
We live in a world in which a “1600 point SAT scale” is actually one in which 90%+ of college-bound students score in the same 350-point band. For example, a student gets a score of roughly 760 by guessing, and Georgia Southern requires an SAT of 1030 to even be considered for admission. 90% of students who attend college will score in the general 1070-1400 range, or the general 20-32 range.

One final thought: The ACT should be applauded for releasing the data this transparently in a move that, while badly needed to fix inaccuracy of the old conversion table at the top end, could arguably hurt its controlling market share among top scorers when they’re at that initial pivotal “which test should I prepare for?” decision point.

Questions? Email us at edison@edisonprep.com.

Sources:
1) SAT/ACT Conversion Grid, Mid-2016 (see Table 7): From CollegeBoard’s site | Hosted on our site (since they’ll probably remove the old one soon)
2) SAT/ACT Conversion Grid, June 2018: From ACT’s site | Hosted on our site