Expectations and Effort
When I ask students what they would like to score on the SAT, the most common answer – only half-jokingly – is 1,600. When I ask for a more realistic score, many say they would settle for a 1,500. I love lofty goals, but I also like realistic ones. Let’s look at just how challenging it is to get such a high score on the SAT.
According to the College Board, using their “User Group Percentiles” (actual scores from the past three years), you must be in the top 2% of all test takers to score 1,500 or higher. Think about that for a moment. Are you in the top 2% of your class? If they lined up 100 test takers, do you think you would get the highest, or second highest, score? Maybe slightly more realistic would be 1,400. Yet to score 1,400, you need to be in the top 7%. Are you in the top 7% of your class? 1,300 requires you to be in the top 14% and 1,200 in the top 24% of all test takers.
But let’s go back to 1,400. Again, that means you’re in the top 7%. That’s very impressive, but it’s not as simple as saying, “well, since I’m in the top 7% of my class, I’ll score in the top 7% of all test takers when I sit for the exam”. Instead, it comes down to effort and preparation.
One prominent national online study program (with a cost of over $2,000, with no 1-1 live tutoring sessions) recommends approximately 60 hours of preparation for the SAT. If you spread that over six weeks, that’s 10 hours per week, or 2 hours per day (assuming you allocate two days to focus solely on your schoolwork). Are you committed to putting in two hours EVERY DAY for six weeks?
Now that’s just one program, and every student is unique, but it should drive home the point that top test takers are committing a great deal of time for their SAT and ACT prep. While you may be top 7% in your class, perhaps some of those who are ranked slightly behind you are putting in 70-80 hours of study time and you’re trying to skirt by with 30. Perhaps they’ll score higher than you, jumping over you in line and pushing you down to top 13%, which would be 1,310. Still and excellent score, but maybe not what you’re looking for.
Now to be clear, more hours does not necessarily equate to a better score, and some study hours (with no phones or distractions) are better than others (while streaming a movie). While it’s easier to make this analogy with hours, it’s not hours that count, it’s effort. How much effort are you willing to put into your test prep? Keep in mind that there will be quite a few of your peers who’ll invest 50-70 hours (which implies a lot of effort).
High school grades (or GPA) still somewhat correlate with SAT scores, but now there’s a bigger variance. Years ago, when maybe only 20% of students had an “A” average, that correlated to SAT scores of maybe 1,250 and above for all these students (I’m generalizing here). But with grade inflation, now 40% of students are “A” students, and being in the top 40% of test takers would mean a score of 1,080 or higher. Think about that; we now have some mostly “A” students scoring no higher that 1,100. A very good score, but not truly reflective of their GPA. Which is why the SAT and ACT are making a strong comeback. It's challenging for colleges to pick out the smartest applicants when so many of them have “A” averages. Grades and GPA might be inflated, but standardized test scores aren’t.
Remember, many of your peers are putting in the extra effort (not necessarily hours, but effort) to prep for their standardized tests and differentiate themselves from the excessively large pool of “A” students applying to colleges. Are you?