Okay - I clearly have too much time on my hands! Reviewing the recent concordance tables between the new SAT vs. the old SAT vs. the ACT lead me to the concordance tables between the old SAT and the ACT. Anyhow, concordance tables are meant to establish an accurate comparison between SAT scores and ACT scores. Just out of curiosity, I compared the minimum SAT and ACT scores set by DYS and noticed that applicants need much higher SAT scores than ACT scores to qualify. I am sure that DYS very carefully set their minimum scores so I can only assume that talent search applicants must somehow score lower on the ACT than on the SAT. Of course, the SAT (at least the old one for sure) has always been closer to an abilities test while the ACT is closer to an achievement test so it may makes sense that the curves are more disparate on the ACT than on the SAT for talent search applicants (mostly age 11 to 14) versus high school juniors/seniors.
Any thoughts? I think I will check how NUMATS award levels are for SAT compared to ACT for last year.
Okay, I am going to have to correct at least one assumption in my original post after reviewing the statistics from NUMAT, CTY and Duke. Davidson's significant disparity between SAT and ACT scores does not appeared to be based on Talent Search results (at least NUMATS, CTY or Duke). For example, Davidson's 7th grade minimum SAT composite (Math + CR) of 1300 is 96.4 percentile for NUMAT while its ACT composite of 24 is only 84.4 percentile for NUMATS.
NUMATS has the best and most comprehensive statistics but it must be proprietary while CTY and Duke have charts that can be accessed easily online. Anyhow, it was interesting comparing the results of the three talent searches. I would have expected all three Talent Searches to have similar scaled scores to percentile conversions even if their Grand Ceremony qualifications varied significantly. That was not the case at all as the actual disparities were huge. For example, to score in the 99th percentile for SAT Math as a 7th grader, you need 690 for Duke, 770 for NUMATS and 800 (males)/780 (females) for CTY. For 99th percentile for SAT CR (verbal) as a 7th grader, you need 640 for Duke, 680 for NUMATS and 710 (males)/720 (females) for CTY.
As arbitrary points of comparison, I looked at the DYS minimum scores for 7th graders on the SAT Math (660) and CR (640) as well as on the ACT Math (23) and Reading (28). The minimum SAT Math score of 660 equals 98 percentile for Duke, 92.9 percentile for NUMATS, and about 85.9 percentile [80.8 percentile (males) and 91 percentile (female)] for CTY. The minimum SAT CR score of 640 equals 99 percentile for Duke, 97.3 percentile for NUMATS, and about 94.6 percentile [94.7 percentile (males) and 94.5 percentile (females)] for CTY. The minimum ACT Math score of 23 equals 91 percentile for Duke, 78.8 percentile for NUMATS, and about 72.8 percentile [67.4 percentile (male) and 78.1 percentile (females)] for CTY. The minimum ACT Reading score of 28 equals 94 percentile for Duke, 88.4 percentile for NUMATS, and about 84.9 percentile [85.3 percentile (males) and 84.4 percentile (female)]for CTY.
And if your 7th grader wants to attend a Grand Ceremony, the best bet is Duke (around 600 CR, 620 Math, 30 Reading and 25 Math) compared to NUMATS (670 CR, 740 Math, 33 Reading and 31 Math) and CTY (700 CR, 700 Math, 28 Reading and 31 Math). CTY cut-offs are constant but NUMATS' and Duke's may change a bit from year to year.
Anyhow, what I find the most interesting is the scaled score to percentile differences for the three talent searches. It can't just be explained by Duke perhaps being more inclusive and casting a broader net. There are actually a lot more extremely high scorers (near or at 800) testing through NUMATS and CTY than through Duke.
I can't wait for College Board to come out with the study on old vs. new SAT for Talent Search kids. There was a really old study (a couple of decades?) on the College Board site that compared the curve (score distribution) for these younger kids to the curve for Juniors/Seniors.
