Recent Changes to the ISEE & SAT and What They Mean for your Child

Recent Changes to the ISEE & SAT and What They Mean for your Child

Read below for an update on recent changes to the ISEE & SAT. We are always on top of this kind of news so you don't have to be!

 

MAJOR CHANGES TO THE ISEE
Just last week, the ERB announced two revolutionary changes to the way they administer the ISEE. Both changes are designed to reduce stress and improve your child's testing experience, making the ISEE a more viable alternative to the SSAT for many students.

1) It is now possible for your child to take his or her first official test in the Fall with a follow up in December, just in time to get in those high school applications. Students may now take the ISEE one time during each of the following testing windows: Fall (August–November); Winter (December–March); and Spring/Summer (April–July). Previously, students had just one shot at the ISEE.

2) You will now have the option to choose where and when to send score reports, and you can choose to send your child's highest score. You are no longer required to designate a school to send the official test to in advance.

 

INTERPRETING SCORES ON THE NEW SAT
After months of anticipation, the College Board has finally released Concordance Tables (PDF) to help parents, students, and schools understand how to interpret scores on the new SAT. The tables compare scores on the new SAT to their corresponding scores on the old SAT and the ACT. However, proceed with caution. We've been warned that these charts may not be everything that they seem.
 
According to a recent article from the Washington Post, "the new test comes with a degree of score inflation" and the ACT has challenged the comparisons made by the College Board. The last Concordance Charts were released 10 years ago, and these charts were created by the College Board in cooperation with the ACT. These newer charts, however, were created without the ACT's involvement, and the ACT isn't buying it. The major take away? We can expect colleges to be taking the score inflation into account in the admissions process, but it's not yet completely clear how scores on the new SAT relate to scores on the ACT. Read more about it here.

 

DIG DEEPER INTO THE CHANGES TO THE SAT
I recently appeared on CUNY TV's EdCast to discuss the changes to the SAT and the implications for students.

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