This summary explains how a student's relative standing in a particular group, as measured by a percentile score, is the same regardless of whether that student's score is on the SAT scale established in 1941 or on the recentered SAT scale, established with a 1990 reference group, and introduced in 1995.

To obtain information on current high school grading policies, additional questions were included on the College Board's High School Profile in 1997. Results of the survey provide insight into the following grading policies across high schools: a large majority of schools (91 percent) use the traditional grading system A-F, or numeric grades; 92.2…

SAT I: Reasoning Test scores, combined with high school grades, result in more accurate predictions of college success than either measure alone or any other combination of two measures. Overall, there is a strong positive relationship between high school grades and SAT. In 1990, ETS conducted a study of the characteristics of different students…

This study showed that almost all of the students brought calculators to the administration of the SAT I test in November 1996 and 1997 and continue to do so today. The number who actually used the calculators on the test and the extent to which they used them varied across students. Performance on the math sections of the exam was associated with…

A study of the relationship of preadmission characteristics of students was conducted across nine colleges with over 25,000 applicants and 4,800 admitted students. Among the findings are: ratings by college staff were influential in admission decisions, but students so identified were not likely to achieve higher grades or persist into sophomore…

The essay on the writing section of the SAT will be scored using a holistic approach. In holistic scoring, a piece of writing is considered as a total piece of work--the whole of which is greater than the sum of its parts.

The predictive validity of the SAT I: Reasoning Test was examined for students who took the test with an extended time accommodation for a learning disability. The sample included college students with learning disabilities who took the SAT I between 1995 and 1998 with extended time accommodations. First year grade point average (FGPA) was used as…

The number of students requesting accommodations has increased in recent years, and the effects of extended time have become increasingly important as this is the only accommodation for 7 of 10 of these students completing the SAT I. Allowing learning disabled students to retest with extended time clearly enables them to improve their SAT I…

The impact of allowing more time for each question on SAT® I: Reasoning Test scores was estimated by embedding sections with a reduced number of questions into the standard 30-minute equating section of two national test administrations. Thus, for example, questions were deleted from a verbal section that contained 35 questions to produce forms…

Distinctions were made between three classes of statistical linkage: equivalence, concordance, and prediction. These distinctions were based on rational content considerations and empirical statistical relationships. A large database involving SAT I and ACT scores was used to determine which type of linkage was best suited for different scores and…

This paper describes how results on the ACT and SAT I can be compared through statistical linking procedures.

In recent years, conflicting reports have circulated about the number of colleges and universities that have made standardized tests optional, rather than required, for admission. The National Center for Fair and Open Testing, or FairTest, has widely publicized a list of 391 colleges and universities that, it claims, do not require admissions…

As an admissions test, the SAT II: Subject Tests in foreign languages allow students to demonstrate academic competence in the selected language area. As a placement tool, the SAT II: Subject Tests in foreign languages serve the same function as the SAT II: Subject Tests do in other academic areas such as world history, chemistry, or math. SAT II:…

The SAT Program undertook two studies aimed at evaluating the impact of allowing students to indicate more than one ethnic/racial category. Results of this study indicated that there is little impact on DIF [differential item functioning] analyses when different definitions of ethnic/racial classifications are used compared to traditionally…

Correspondences between ACT[superscript TM] and SAT[superscript R] I scores are presented from a conceptual framework that distinguishes among three kinds of correspondences, namely, equating, scaling, and prediction. Construct similarity plays an important role in determining the nature and degree of correspondence that can be achieved. This…