counselors/advisors: navigating the test prep landscape after the new sat

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Navigating the Test Prep Landscape After the New SAT

WELCOME

College Planning Partnerships StrategicPartnerswith

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The New FAFSA Regulations

FEATURED SPEAKER HENRY DELANGELO

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Implications of the New FAFSA Regulations for Families

o Previously, students submitted their FAFSA in the January of the year they would begin college

The earlier a FAFSA is submitted, the greater chance of receiving financial aid. However, universities have deadlines for FAFSA submissions that are often either

difficult or impossible for students and their families to meet because they do not have the tax and income information from the previous year. • Because of this, FAFSA forms were often submitted with erroneous or outdated information

because the most recent income information was not available.

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o The downsides of using last year’s financial information on FAFSA: Taxes typically not done in time to file by college deadlines

• Difficult for many to estimate their tax information Using estimates results in higher level of scrutiny Corrections after taxes are completed can result in aid changes Short time frame for financial decision-making given the May 1 commitment

deadline

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o Beginning in October of 2016, students who will be college freshman from 2017-2018 can submit their FAFSAs for the upcoming year

While the 2016-2017 application deadline will not change, the submission window will begin on October 1 every year after 2016.

OCT1

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o Advantages to using prior-prior year income on FAFSA: Taxes are already completed—no need to estimate FAFSA will be available months earlier IRS data matching will work better Less chance for corrections and changes to aid Results available sooner More time for families to make an educated decision

OCT1

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o This table provides another way of looking at the transition between the old and new FAFSA submission regulations.

If students attend college from

They will submit the FAFSA for

And they will submit the FAFSA form

Income and tax information from

July 1, 2015-June 30, 2016 2015-16 January 1, 2015-June 30,

2016 2014

July 1, 2016-June 30, 2017 2016-17 January 1, 2016-June 30,

2017 2015

July 1, 2017-June 30, 2018 2017-18 October 1, 2016-June 30,

2018 2015

July 1, 2018-June 30, 2019 2018-19 October 1, 2017-June 30,

2019 2016

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o What Does This Mean For Families? Because the deadline is earlier, students should try to have an earlier list of schools

• Students might consider moving the college application process earlier so they are in a better position to submit the FAFSA at its earliest date. In order to send the FAFSA to the correct schools and have the highest chance at receiving financial aid, students need a list of schools in which they are interested.

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o What Does This Mean For Families? You will receive aid information quicker

• Under the new FAFSA regulations, students and families should hear from colleges about their aid packages before making a decision, which could be crucial to some families.

• Additionally, higher education institutions will be able to quickly acknowledge information on the FAFSA that was brought in through the new IRS Data Retrieval Tool, instead of taking the time to verify that information themselves.

• Fewer errors and fewer adjustments means the window for deciding between colleges can expand from 2-6 weeks to as much as 2-3 months

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o Prognostications: Elite institutions and major flagship universities will likely make no changes to

timeline and processes, at least in the initial years. Some private institutions as well as public universities may quickly take advantage

of the ability to create earlier timeline to be more competitive. Many for-profit (proprietary) institutions will likely take strong advantage of the

ability to accept students and fund them on an earlier timeline.

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o Down the road… Increased competition in higher education Number of colleges and universities with earlier timelines for admission and financial

aid will likely increase

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o Prior-Prior Year… Major disruption to the status quo of the college application, admission and financial

aid cycle? Or no more than a small ripple effect?

?

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o The Future? Will the college search process move up 6 months to a year earlier? Will students begin their searches in earnest sophomore year? Or even earlier? Will Regular Decision be more like Early Action?

?

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Why It Is More Important Than Ever for Students to Obtain SAT/ACT Data Points Early in the Game

FAST-TRACKING THE COLLEGE APPLICATION TIMELINE WITH EARLIER TEST PREPARATION

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Earlier application timeline due to changes in FAFSA regulations

SeptemberReview Extracurricular Activities at Your School

Sophomore Year

OctoberTake the PSAT

10

JulyConsider an

Algebra II Bootcamp

SummerBegin Studying for One of the Tests During the Summer

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Fall (2016)Take the SAT or ACT For the First Time

Junior Year

October / November / December / January /

FebruaryRetake the Test if You are Not

Pleased With Your Results

May / JuneStudy for SAT Subject Test(s)

if Necessary

MayStudy for AP Exams if Necessary

SummerBegin Drafting College Essays

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OctoberFill Out FAFSA Form in October

Senior Year

MayStudy for AP Exams if

Necessary

IMPORTANTBeginning in 2017 the SAT will

offer the test in late August

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Making a Decision on Which Test to Study for Is Imperative

Options We Recommend For Our Families

SAT/ACT Diagnostic

------3-4 Hours

1

PSAT + Practice ACT

------6+ Hours

2

Practice SAT + Practice ACT

------6+ Hours

3

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A Lot of The Material Tested on The Exam Students Have Already Learned

Most high achieving students—if they studied—could see reasonable success on the SAT/ACT Reading and Writing & Language tests by the end of ninth grade.

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A Lot of The Material Tested on The Exam Students Have Already Learned

Many of the topics on the SAT/ACT Mathematics tests are taught as early as sixth grade

Early Topics Include:• Percentages• Ratios & Proportions• Adding / Subtracting / Multiplying / Dividing Fractions• Probability• Solving for a single variable• Equations of a line and systems of equations

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How to discuss redesigned SAT/ACT scores with students and families

SAT & ACT CONCORDANCE

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How Do the Redesigned SAT, Previous SAT, and ACT Scores Relate to One Another

o In May 2016, The College Board released a concordance table that equates redesigned SAT, previous SAT, and ACT scores to one another.

o SAT offers a Score Converter application on its website and for mobile devices.o Full tables are also available at https://www.satprepct.com/resources/what-do-

my-scores-mean/.

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How Do the Redesigned SAT, Previous SAT, and ACT Scores Relate to One Another

o SAT scores on the new exam are generally inflated, meaning students require a higher score on the new test for it to have the same meaning as the score they achieved on the previous SAT.

o We are concerned that many families won’t be aware of the true meaning of the new scores!

Previous SAT Math Redesigned SAT Math

500 530

600 620

700 720

Previous SAT CR/Writing Redesigned SAT EBRW

500 CR and 500 W 560

600 CR and 600 W 650

700 CR and 700 W 730

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Given That ACT Does Not Acknowledge SAT’s Concordance Tables, How Will Colleges Treat These Numbers?

o We believe believe that colleges WILL use the SAT Score Converter since it is the only tool available to compare Previous SAT and Redesigned SAT scores.

College Board: “For the next few years, most colleges will accept both new and old SAT scores. They will also be converting scores so they can make fair admission decisions no matter which SAT scores students submit.”

College Board: “If you have scores from the old SAT and the new SAT and don’t want to send both to colleges, use the SAT Score Converter to compare them before you choose.”

o Several colleges have made similar indications: Princeton: “The old SAT, new SAT with Essay, and ACT with Writing will be treated

equally…we will consult the concordance tables provided by the College Board to maintain continuity in our evaluation. The tables show the equivalent score on the old SAT for a score on the new SAT.”

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Given the Concordance Tables, How Should Students Interpret Each School’s Score Range on collegeboard.org?

o College Board does not yet provide data on score ranges on the Redesigned SAT for universities. All data available from CB’s Big Future feature use “previous SAT” data.

o Students should take their Redesigned SAT scores and work backwards using the Score Converter tool in order to get their approximate “previous SAT” scores. They can then compare these scores to the score ranges available for each school on collegeboard.org.

o Students should do this as soon as they have their first set of SAT scores returned so that they have a sense of where their scores compare to score ranges of schools they may apply to.

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USING CONCORDANCE TO INTERPRET SCORES


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The ACT Essay

ACT ESSAY

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ACT ESSAY

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o Why Initial Scores Were So Low Students did not fully understand what they were asked to do Rubric stresses analysis with nuance and context, for example

ACT ESSAY

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ACT ESSAY

Example of an Essay

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2-12 points for Ideas and Analysis

ACT ESSAY

Ideas and Analysis

The writer generates an argument that critically engages with multiple perspectives on the given issue. The argument’s thesis reflects nuance and precision in thought and purpose. The argument establishes and employs an insightful context for analysis of the issue and its perspectives. The analysis examines implications, complexities and tensions, and/or underlying values and assumptions.

o Clearly state their perspective on the issue and analyze the relationship between their perspective and at least one of the three perspectives that was presented.

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2-12 points for Development and Support

ACT ESSAY

Development and Support

Development of ideas and support for claims deepen insight and broaden context. An integrated line of skillful reasoning and illustration effectively conveys the significance of the argument. Qualifications and complications enrich and bolster ideas and analysis.

o Students must develop and support their ideas with reasoning and examples.

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2-12 points for Organization

ACT ESSAY

Organization

The response exhibits a skillful organizational strategy. The response is unified by a controlling idea or purpose, and a logical progression of ideas increases the effectiveness of the writer’s argument. Transitions between and within paragraphs strengthen the relationships among ideas.

o Students must clearly organize their ideas and logically communicate them effectively.

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2-12 points for Language Use

ACT ESSAY

Language Use

The use of language enhances the argument. Word choice is skillful and precise. Sentence structures are consistently varied and clear. Stylistic and register choices, including voice and tone, are strategic and effective. While a few minor errors in grammar, usage, and mechanics may be present, they do not impede understanding.

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ACT ESSAY

o Have Students Get Familiar With the Essay and Practice• They have 40 minutes to generate an argument that critically engages with

multiple perspectives on the issue. Practice is the key as many students have little familiarity with this type of writing.

• Sample Essay is available in the webinar materials pane.

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o Why Not to Fret About Low Scores The writing score does not impact the composite score; however, without a writing

test score an English Language Arts (ELA) score will not be reported. From what we hear most colleges are putting little weight on the redesigned ACT

essay.

ACT ESSAY

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Scores May Not Be As Low As You Thought

ACT ESSAY

Percentile English Math Readi

ngScienc

eComposi

te ELA Writing

95th Percentile 32 30 32 30 30 28 27-28

80th Percentile 25-26 25-26 26-27 24-25 25-26 23-24 22

60th Percentile 21-22 21-22 21-22 21-22 21-22 20-21 18-19

50th Percentile 19-20 19-20 20-21 20-21 20 18-19 16-17

35th Percentile 16-17 16-17 17-18 18-19 17-18 16-17 14

20th Percentile 13-14 15-16 14-15 15-16 15-16 14-15 11-12

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What We Have Learned From Colleges About the New SAT


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What We Have Learned from Colleges About the New Scores and How Colleges Are Using/Interpreting Them

o It is a standardized test, everyone gets the same experienceo Colleges will not favor old SAT over Redesigned SATo College will not favor ACT over Redesigned SATo They will use the concordance tables confidently

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What We Have Learned from Colleges About the New Scores and How Colleges Are Using/Interpreting Them

o No Longer Requiring SAT Subject Testso No Longer Requiring SAT or ACT Writing Sampleso What Schools Will Follow?

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CONTACT US

College Planning Partnerships

www.satprepct.com [email protected]

(860) 664-9857

counselors/advisors: navigating the test prep landscape after the new sat

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