You’ve finally gotten your scores back after a long and agonizing wait. Your first indication of how well you did is your percentile rank. This is a measure of what percentage of people you did better than. So if, for example, you scored in the 90th percentile, then you did better than 90% of all students who took the test.
So you might have a good idea of how you did generally, but did you do well enough to get into your top choice school? Well, luckily there are a few resources online to help you out. Many colleges release test score data to the public. They will usually report scores as the range of the middle 50%, which tells you that 25% of students scored below the lower end of the range, and 25% scored above the upper end of the range.
CollegeSimply
CollegeSimply has a very handy guide that lets you search for colleges based on your SAT or ACT scores. All you have to do is input your score and what state you’re looking for schools in (or you can search the entire country) and it will give you the average scores for each school and will even give you an estimate of what your chances of getting in are based solely on your test score. You can also filter the options down even further by giving them your GPA as well.
CollegeBoard
Another option you have is CollegeBoard’s college search website. Here they allow you to select filters to narrow down your college search. If you select the Test Scores and Selectivity filter, then you can input your scores and they’ll provide you with a graph of how well your scores hold up. If your score is above the middle of the midrange box, which is the 50th percentile, then you have a solid chance of getting considered. If you fall below the 50th percentile, you might consider taking the test again.
Remember, test scores aren’t everything. If you didn’t do as well as you’d have liked but still tried your best, then by all means consider retaking it. There are plenty of places to go that will provide you quality test prep services to score higher next time. However, a great GPA and application can more than make up for less than stellar test scores.
Want to know more? Contact us with your questions about your score; we’d love to help you!
