[sd]

noun Something that is the source of a significant change in outlook or action.

What are middle 50s and percentiles?

Answer: A schools middle 50 percent range are the numbers between the 25th and 75th percentile parameters of those who were accepted the year before.
For example, if a schools Middle 50 range is 500 to 600 on the SAT Reading, then 25% of its last years incoming class had Reading scores below 500 and 25% had scores above 600. If your score falls within the Middle 50 range, then your score is comparable to those who were accepted. However, that does not mean you have a guaranteed chance of getting into the school. SEED recommends that you aim to get the higher parameter of the range. That way you will have a score better than 75% of last years freshmens class.

School

Middle 50 range for SAT Reading

Middle 50 range for SAT Math

Middle 50 range for SAT Writing

ACT Composite

SUNY Stony Brook SUNY Binghamton Rutgers New Brunswick Rutgers Pharmacy Union College University of Michigan NYU Hamilton College Northwestern Univ. MIT Stanford Cornell University Brown University Univ. of Pennsylvania Dartmouth College Columbia University Yale University Princeton University Harvard College

530 - 630 580 - 670 520 - 630 640 - 730 580 - 670 590 - 690 610- 710 650 - 730 660 - 740 670 - 760 670 - 760 640 - 730 660- 760 660- 750 670- 780 690 - 780 700 - 800 690 - 790 690 - 800

580 - 680 620 - 700 560 - 680 710 - 790 610 - 700 640 - 750 630 - 740 650 - 730 680 - 770 740 - 800 690 - 790 670 - 770 670 - 770 690 - 780 690 - 790 700 - 790 710 - 790 710 - 790 700 - 790

520 - 630 570 - 660 540 - 640 660 - 740 580 - 680 610 - 710 620 - 720 650 - 730 670 - 760 670 - 770 680 - 780 -- 670 - 770 680 - 770 690 - 790 690 - 780 710 - 800 700 - 790 710 - 800

25 - 29 26 - 30 -- -- 27 - 30 27 - 31 28 - 31 -- 31 - 34 32 - 35 31 - 34 29 - 33 29 - 33 30 - 34 30 - 34 31 - 34 32 - 35 31 - 35 31 - 34

300 Knickerbocker Road Cresskill, New Jersey 07626 70 Eisenhower Drive Paramus, New Jersey 07652 40-10 Bell Boulevard Bayside, New York 11361 200 North Central Avenue Hartsdale, New York 10530

(201) 569-6555

(201) 845-8405

(718) 224-8626

(914) 761-7973

 Answer: Percentiles help compare a students score to those of other students.

For example, if a student scores 600 on the SAT Reading, the percentile is 80. This means that the student did better than 80 percent of the nations college-bound seniors. Percentiles are based on the most recent scores earned by students in the previous year's graduating class who took the SAT during high school. Because the total group is larger and more diverse than the state group, total and state percentiles may differ.

for 2010 college-bound seniors

Test

National mean (average) score

Percentile rank for Asian, Asian American or Pacific Islander score around 44 around 25 around 40

Score needed to reach total percentile rank of 99

State mean score for New York

State mean score for New Jersey

Mean score for Asian, Asian American or Pacific Islander

SAT Reading SAT Math SAT Writing

501 516 492 1509

760 780 760 2300

State mean score for New York

484 499 478 1461

State mean score for New Jersey

495 514 497 1506

519 591 526 1636

Subject Test Literature Math Level 1 Math Level 2 U.S. History World History Biology/E Biology/M Chemistry Physics French French with Listening German German with Listening Spanish Spanish with Listening Modern Hebrew Italian Latin Chinese with Listening Japanese with Listening Korean with Listening
National mean (average) score Percentile rank for a 700 score Percentile rank for a 800 score*

580 605 649 601 605 601 638 644 658 620 639 612 604 644 653 614 663 619 761 688 764

608 619 683 633 631 623 657 659 658 632 651 639 597 632 633 612 565 637 762 687 771

620 628 691 650 624 637 661 671 657 586 599 568 558 610 607 663 605 593 761 702 773

82 79 62 76 73 78 66 61 59 68 65 69 67 61 54 64 51 71 12 37 11

99 99 88 98 95 99 98 93 90 89 87 91 89 92 95 84 89 96 57 86 63

* Generally speaking, the column on the far right (percentile rank for an 800 score) indicates the degree of difficulty of the test:
the higher the percentile rank, the harder it is to get a high score. Since the Korean with Listening test s percentile is 63 (for an 800 score), that means 37 percent of those who take the test get an 800. So getting an 800 on the Korean with Listening is not as impressive as an 800 on the Spanish with Listening (95 percentile rank).