Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment SAT scores

Can someone direct me on figuring out what a seventh grader who is say in the 98 percentile for both IQ and achievement would be expected to score on the SAT in 7th grade? How does one figure that out? I would like to know more than just 98th percentile but that is the most important one to me. Is there a chart? Thanks ahead of time.

Thank-you for your quick reply. We have had to struggle to get DD12's gifted placement that I do not want any test scores to shed any doubt.... If you were concerned about not wanting scores to cast doubt what is the lowest score you would submit to the school? Something around the 440/450? Looking for the 98 percentile kind of scores. What would cast doubt for you if you are willing to answer that? We don't have scores yet so this may all turn out to be mute but it is also an interesting question. Thanks for your help.

Maybe it would be helpful to look at a chart like this one that gives score breakdowns for what they consider gifted by grade level on above level tests. Perhaps you'd be looking for scores that fall somewhere around that "gifted" benchmark this chart uses. I know that some of our local districts use this same set of numbers.

Hi everyone,

New to this forum. Need some suggestions here.

Ds is not very happy today because he got his January JHU CTY talent search SAT score this morning. As a rising 7th grader, his scores are 700CR/800M/650W with essay score of 6. These are great scores. The problem is the essay score. Ds took SAT exactly two years ago to qualify CTYonline course as a rising 5th grader with 600CR/800M/500W, and an essay score of, you guessed it, 6. After two years learning, CTYonline �Crafting Essay� class, straight A�s in his English class at one of the most rigorous private schools in the nation, great comments from his teachers from CTY and former and current schools on his writings and essays, he still managed to just get a �6� on the essay. The strange thing is before the SAT test, he took college board website practice test online, and got an essay of 12 (6+6), and the website claim the score is predictable of real SAT test.

I am confused and he is upset! He thinks they made a mistake about his essay scoring and he is very confident boy(most of the time over confident). Any suggestions?

A confused parent.

A 5th grader who got an 800 on math on the SAT is amazing! The rest of his scores are amazing as well!

I believe that you/he misunderstood the essay scoring process. A 6 is the highest score you can get on the essay. Two scorers score the essay thus the two scores (6 and 6). If the scores differ by more than one point, a third person also scores it to determine where the score falls. In any case, he had no room for improvement on the essay from his first score.

Ah, well maybe I was the one who was confused, then! I had thought that the essay score on the score report showed an average of the two scores and then was multiplied by two for the composite scaled score. I'll have to go back and look at dd12's SAT scores from last year and see what her essay score was. Maybe she did worse than I thought !

I agree with the suggestion to get back a scanned copy of the essay.

A few thoughts other thoughts RL

1.Perhaps he'd feel better if he learned more about how the essays are graded. The average reader is spending 2.5 minutes reading the essay. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/31/AR2005073100963.html The opinion of teachers who have had in him class and thoughtfully read his work should mean MUCH more than the performance on this single short essay.

2.The essay is the LEAST important section on the SAT. Most schools either don't consider it at all or consider it least of the sections. It is mainly used as a confirmation of the student's transcript and submitted essays.

3. He's in 7th grade and for most kids maturity of writing is the last area to develop full maturity.

4. Unhealthy perfectionists focus on weaknesses and don't take sufficient time celebrating accomplishments. Your 7th grader earned a composite score that places him in the 98%tile of college bound seniors! http://professionals.collegeboard.com/profdownload/sat-percentile-ranks-composite-cr-m-w-2010.pdf Look how few seniors in the whole country scored as high as he did. These are amazing scores. They point to a need to make sure he has access to challenging material for the rest of middle and high school. They also suggest a strong possibility he'd be successful with grade skipping or early college entrance if that is an appealing option.

His full score report came from College Board today and the essay was actually scored an 8. Somewhere somebody made a mistake. It could be The John Hopkins CTY, because that is where we found out his score and they still have this error in their records. As for my son, he has already passed this (emotionally) since Friday�s wrestling game.

I want to thank all of you for the helpful advice reminding us that my son is still a child with great achievements. We should focus on his achievements instead of one area of an out of level test which he did well but still has plenty time to grow.

We have made decision long time ago against grade skipping. We are fortunate that he is enrolled in a great independent school which he found the school work interesting. He is very much enjoying his friends and teachers.

I received an advice from John Hopkins CTY Study of Exceptionally Talented (SET) that I should write to College Board to ask to keep my son�s score in his record as this might help him in the future. His 5th grade SAT score/record already wiped clean, but we have an official report.

Again, thank you all for the inputs and suggestions. This is a great place to share a parent�s joy and concerns, and learn from people who have been there and done that.