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A study was conducted on students from a particular high school over the last 8 years. The following information was found regarding standardized tests used for college admittance. Scores on the SAT test are normally distributed with a mean of 1029 and a standard deviation of 205. Scores on the ACT test are normally distributed with a mean of 22.7 and a standard deviation of 5. It is assumed that the two tests measure the same aptitude, but use different scales.

If a student gets an SAT score that is the 50-percentile, find the actual SAT score.
SAT score =
Round answer to a whole number.

What would be the equivalent ACT score for this student?
ACT score =
Round answer to a whole number.

If a student gets an SAT score of 1501, find the equivalent ACT score.
ACT score =
Round answer to a whole number.

User Andy Hull
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1 Answer

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Here's the solution to the provided problem:



If a student scores at the 50th percentile on the SAT, it means that 50% of the students scored lower and the other 50% scored higher. We can find the score using the following equation:


(1029 - x) / 205 = 0.5


Solving for x, we get:


x = 1029 - 205 * 0.5
x = 1029 - 102.5
x = 927.5


Therefore, a student’s SAT score of 928 would be the equivalent to scoring at the 50th percentile.



To find the equivalent ACT score, we first need the percentiles for the ACT scores. We can create a standard score distribution table by subtracting the mean from each score and dividing it by the standard deviation.


| | Standard Score | Percentile |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 27 | 0 | 99.5 |
| 26 | -1 | 97.2 |
| 25 | -2 | 94 |
| 24 | -3 | 89.8 |
| 23 | -4 | 85.1 |
| 22 | -5 | 78.6 |
| 21 | -6 | 70.2 |
| 20 | -7 | 61 |
| 19 | -8 | 51 |
| 18 | -9 | 40 |
| 17 | -10 | 30 |
| 16 | -11 | 20.6 |
| 15 | -12 | 11.5 |
| 14 | -13 | 3.4 |
| 13 | -14 | 0 |


The mean score is 22.7 and the standard deviation is 5, so the 50th percentile score is 22.7 - (5 * 0.02) = 22.7 - 0.1 = 22.6, or ACT score 23. Therefore, the equivalent ACT score for a student with a SAT score of 928 would be an ACT score of 23.
3. If a student has an SAT score
User Oleg Titov
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