D e l aw a re C o u n t y C h r i s t i a n S c h o o l
COLLEGE COUNSELOR CORNER
Volume 6 Issue 11
From The Desk of Trevor Creeden, Director of College & Career Counseling
June/July 2016
Guidance Calendar Why Your New SAT Scores Are Not As Strong As You Think
June
4—SAT Exam Date @ DC
6—HS Final Exams
9—Last Day of School
11—ACT Exam Date
July
5—AP Scores available
online
August
5—Registration deadline
for September 10th ACT
@ DC
Summer Guidance
Hours
June 13-17– 8:00 am-3:00 pm
June 20-30– 9:00 am-2:00 pm
July 1-Aug 1 Office Closed
Aug. 1-12—9:00 am-3:00 pm
Aug. 15-30—8:00 am-3:00 pm
Class of 2017,
get your college
essays done
early! Sign up
for the College
Essay Academy
Today!
(August 1-5)
Go To
DCCS.ORG/SUMMER
Many college-bound students
across America are celebrang
what appear to be impressive
results from the revised SAT.
But in general the scores are
not as strong as they seem at
first glance.
It turns out the new test
comes with a degree of score
inflaon. Simply put: a 1300
on the SAT is not worth as
much as it used to be.
Figuring out what the new SAT
scores mean, and how they
compare to old SAT scores or
to ACT scores, is likely to be a
major source of confusion for
students and parents in the
next couple of years following
the debut in March of a major
revision to the naon’s oldest
college admissions test.
The College Board released
charts showing that for a vast
swath of students, new SAT
scores are comparable to results that would have been 60
to 80 points lower on corresponding secons of the old
SAT.
For instance, if a student
earned a score of 1100 on the
new SAT, out of a maximum
1600, that would correspond
to a score of 1020 on the
math and crical reading secons of the old SAT. Same
hypothecal student, but two
different tests, with an 80point bump on the newer one.
Why the bump?
“The scores have risen because of design decisions
made by the College Board,”
said Adam Ingersoll, a college
test-preparaon consultant in
California. “Kids are not smarter. The test is not ‘easier.’ The
test has just changed. It’s a
different test.”
Ingersoll, co-founder and principal of Compass Educaon
Group, and others in the testprep and college advising community have been flooded with
quesons from students and
parents as results from the new
test have been released.
Among the changes to the new
SAT are the eliminaon of a
“guessing penalty” and a reducon in the number of choices
for possible answers to each
queson (four now, instead of
five). The old test had a maximum score of 2400, covering
math, crical reading and
wring. Each of those three
secons was worth up to 800
points. The new test has a maximum score of 1600. There are
just two required secons —
math and “evidence-based
reading and wring” — and
each is worth up to 800 points.
More comparisons on new SAT
scores versus crical reading
and math scores on the old
SAT:
A new 1200 corresponds to an
old 1130.
A new 1300 corresponds to an
old 1230.
A new 1400 corresponds to an
old 1340.
A new 1500 corresponds to an
old 1460.
But a new 1600 is just as perfect as an old 1600.
It’s also worth looking at how
new SAT scores compare to
ACT scores, according to Col-
lege Board analysis. The ACT,
now the most widely used admission test in the country, has
a maximum score of 36.
1200 on the new SAT corresponds to 25 on the ACT.
1300 on the new SAT corresponds to 27 on the ACT.
1400 on the new SAT corresponds to 30 on the ACT.
1500 on the new SAT corresponds to 33 on the ACT.
And 1600 on the new SAT sll
corresponds to a perfect 36 on
the ACT.
ACT challenged the College
Board’s analysis. Marten Roorda, chief execuve of ACT, said
the Iowa-based organizaon
was not consulted for the analysis and could not endorse it.
He said the ACT is quite different from the SAT. The former,
for instance, includes a science
test, while the laCer does not.
“Speaking for ACT, we’re not
having it,” Roorda wrote of the
College Board analysis. “And
neither should you.” The ACT
and College Board last cooperated on a comparave analysis,
known as a “concordance,” 10
years ago, Roorda said.
College admission officers
across the country will be looking closely at these tables. Undoubtedly, they will factor in
the score inflaon when they
are weighing applicaons for
fall 2017. Whether colleges will
also point out the inflaon in
their publicity brochures about
the academic credenals of
incoming students in future
years is another maCer.
- Nick Anderson,
The Washington Post
D e l aw a r e C o u n t y
Christian School
JUNIORS! SIGN UP FOR COLLEGE
ESSAY ACADEMY TODAY!
Guidance Office
(610) 353-6522
Mr. Trevor Creeden
Dir. of College & Career Counseling
[email protected]
Ext. 2229
Ms. Brook Pauley
Guidance Counselor
[email protected]
Ext. 2288
Mrs. Janet Smyth
Guidance/Discovery Admin. Asst.
[email protected]
Ext. 2290
FOLLOW @DC_GUIDANCE ON
College essays can be a very stressful part of the college applicaon process. Colleges are looking for that unique essay that
stands out and a lot of students have a difficult me figuring out
how to even start. Monday, August 1st—Friday, August 5th will
be the 3rd annual College Essay Academy as part of DC's Summer Programs that is going to help relieve the stress of what to
write for your college essay(s) but also guide you through a process in order to write the best college essays possible and complete up to 3 college essays by the end of the week.
I am excited to be assisted by Vivian McLaughlin, former English
Department Head at DC. We will also have special guests from
colleges such as Swarthmore College, Haverford College, Villanova and UPENN to talk directly to students about what these
compeve admission colleges look for in a college essay.
Each day we will meet from 9:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. and once
again the goal is to have at least 3 essays wriCen and proofread
by the end of the week.
If you are interested in aCending please register online
at www.dccs.org/summer and click on the REGISTRATION link at
the boCom of the page. If you have any quesons about the
class please don't hesitate to contact me at [email protected]
or (610) 353-6522 ext. 2229.
AP Exam Scores
Available in July
If you took an AP exam this past
May, you can expect to receive
your scores online the first week of
July. The exact me that Pennsylvania AP students can access their
scores is Tuesday, July 5th at
8:00 a.m. To access your scores
you must take the following steps:
1) Go to
apscore.collegeboard.org/scores
2) Log-in to your college board
account using the same username
and password as when registering
for the SAT
3) Provide your AP number— The
same number that was on the
sckers in the middle of your student pack.
Please make sure you saved or
have wriCen your AP number down
before the end of the school year.
Summer Before Senior
Year Checklist
Each Junior is receiving a “Summer
Before Senior Year Checklist” that
includes everything that is important for them to know and understand before they come back to
school at the end of August and
begin applying to colleges. I would
encourage each parent of a rising
senior to review this checklist with
their child to make sure everyone is
on the same page. I will be uploading each junior’s six semester transcript to their Naviance account
once the final grades for the year
are posted. This will allow them to
know what their cumulave GPA is
heading into their senior year. If
you have any quesons about this
checklist or your child’s transcript
please e-mail me at
[email protected].
Don’t Miss SAT/ACT
Registration Deadlines
It’s important to noce that the
registraon deadlines for September ACT and the October SAT are in
the summer and right when school
starts. The first ACT test of the
2016-2017 school year is September 10th and the deadline to register at www.actstudent.org is Friday, August 5th. The first SAT of
the 2016-2017 school year is
October 1st. The deadline to register for this test is Friday, September 2nd. If you would like to apply
for accommodaons/extended
me on the SAT please contact
Brook Pauley ([email protected])
For accommodaons on the ACT
please contact Trevor Creeden
([email protected])