What is a “Good Score,” and How Do We Get There?
As many have been receiving PSAT (or perhaps even SAT) scores, you might be wondering if your score is a “good score.”
The answer may frustrate you, but “it depends.”
Students, of course, are more than numbers, and context matters—a student working 3 jobs, supporting a family, or participating in many extracurriculars may not have the bandwidth to score similarly to peers who spend all their free time studying for these tests. When it comes to college admissions, that context matters, and a test score is simply one part of a student’s overall profile. Given the misinformation floating around school hallways and parent coffee meetups, test scores may seem challenging to interpret.
In these cases, it is often helpful to consider percentiles ( PSAT here and SAT here).
College Board, however, doesn’t make it easy. They have confusingly split the percentiles into two categories: “Nationally Representative Sample” and “User.”
For the purpose of evaluating scores, we find the “User” percentiles more useful because it compares your score only to those of other students in your grade who took the test.
If you earned a score of 1000 on the PSAT during 11th grade, you’re right at the national average. 1280 places you in the 90th Percentile and in top 10 percent of test takers. The table to the left provides additional benchmark percentiles.
Note the differences towards the top end: increasing 150 points from an SAT score of 1200 to 1350 would mean moving from the top 25th percentile to the top 10th. Adding another 150 points would move a student from the top 10th percentile to a 1500, which is a top 2 percentile score.
Clearly, some points are harder to earn than others. To put it in simpler terms, a 1350 is 2.5 times as rare as a 1200. However, a 1500 is 5 times as rare as a 1350... and 12.5 times as rare as a 1200.
Of 2.2 million test takers (class of 2020), 550,000 students scored 1200 or better- only 11,000 scored 1500+.
Similar patterns are evident across fields- competition gets tougher the higher we go. A runner can improve their 400 time by 10 seconds and be pretty good. Another 10 seconds would make them elite. And another ten seconds would perhaps have them breaking Olympic records.
Perhaps a better question to ask might be “what is a ‘good score’ for the schools I’d like to attend.”
That’s because percentile rankings don’t mean anything for individual students—acceptance (and scholarships!) at their dream colleges do.
What would be considered a competitive score at one school may not necessarily be considered strong at another—and remember, scores alone are a piece of the puzzle and do not guarantee acceptance, especially at the most competitive institutions. A score that would place you in the top 10% of a local state school may not be a competitive score at MIT or Caltech, which have the highest average SAT score (1540) in the country.
So let’s look at some of the schools where your scores would currently be competitive:
Note- if you are interested in competitive scores at certain schools, Google the school name followed by “average SAT score” or “Common Data set” for more thorough details.
Further, scores aren’t only relevant for admissions; they can also have significant impacts on scholarship and merit aid as well. The University of Arizona, for example, illustrates predicted scholarship value based on GPA and test scores below. Many other schools have merit aid calculators that allow for input of grades and test scores.
The great thing about standardized tests is that they are standardized- by definition, they must be consistent, which means we know what to expect from each test. Scores can be improved greatly, but of course, take hard work and repetition. Consider baselines, math maturity, and bandwidth (realistically, students only have a limited amount of time and mental energy to spend on their priorities) while constructing your test prep goals and timelines. As college admissions have become more competitive, it becomes easy to panic and try to “do it all.” However, the most important thing we can do is take a deep breath, and plan. Need help planning? Feel free to schedule a call at www.PMTutoring.com/book-consultation.