New to Old SAT Conversion - Official Formulas and Tools

As of March 5, 2016, the new SAT is out. This means that those who took the old 2400-point SAT may want to know what their new 1600-point SAT score would have been, and vice versa. This information is critical for when you research and apply to scholarships and colleges that use a different version of the SAT than the one you took.

Here, we give the official conversions between old SAT and new SAT scores. These conversions come directly from the College Board, and we've made automatic conversion tools to make it easier for you!

Converting from Old SAT to New SAT

Do you have your old SAT score, including the scores for each section: Writing, Mathematics, and Critical Reading? If so, just plug your current numbers into the left hand side below, and your new total will pop out automatically on the right!

Enter your old 2400 SAT here:

Old Math (max 800)

Old Reading (max 800)

Old Writing (max 800)

Get new 1600 SAT scores here:

Old Total SAT (max 2400)

New Math (max 800)

New Reading + Writing (max 800)

New Total SAT (max 1600)

New 1600 SAT to Old 2400 SAT Conversion Tool

Alternatively, if you want to input your New SAT scores and get old SAT scores back, here's how to do it:

Enter your new 1600 SAT here:

New Math (max 800)

New Reading + Writing (max 800)

Get old 2400 SAT scores here:

New Total SAT (max 1600)

Old Math (max 800)

Old Reading + Writing (max 1600)

Old Total SAT (max 2400)

More Information About Converting Between Scores

When You'll Want to Convert Between Scores

On one hand, the new SAT and the old SAT are different tests. No single test captures all the information from other tests. Comparing your score on the two tests is, in some ways, like comparing your marathon speed with your 100-meter-sprint speed. While the two speeds are probably correlated, the tests are different, and no one test fully summarizes the other.

On the other hand, scores from the two tests are indisputably related. They both aim to test similar concepts, they have similar functions as college admissions tests, and they both keep some of the same multiple-choice features. If you do well on one test, you'll tend to do well on the other. Therefore, it absolutely makes sense to talk about converting between one score and another.

The concept we use in the conversion above is called theoretical equivalence. That is, if you were to perform as well on one test as the other, what would your total score and section scores be? This gives us a formula where the math section remains the same, and the verbal sections map onto each other.

You can use this conversion if you're administering scholarships or admissions and want the same standards across the board. If you're intuitively used to thinking in terms of Old SAT scores, this conversion lets you understand New SAT scores better.

However, you should be aware of one caveat if you are using conversion tables to predict test scores. The caveat is that you'll experience regression to the mean. If you did better than average on the old sat (above 1500), you'll do just a tad lower than on the new SAT than your conversion chart score. Likewise, if you did worse than average (less than 1500) on the old SAT, you'll do just a tad better on the new SAT. The reason for this is that new test doesn't test exactly the same things as the old test, and for the new subjects being tested, you are statistically more likely to do more average. Thus, you should expect your score to shrink towards the average.

What To Do Next?

Now you've converted between the two scores, one thing you should very seriously consider is taking the new SAT. Even if you have an old SAT score, and you've predicted your new SAT score according to the above conversion formula, you will likely perform somewhat differently when you take the real new SAT. This is a good thing because, with superscoring, you have two bites at the apple and more chances to improve.

Likewise, if you took both the old SAT and the new SAT, and found that your old SAT converted to more than your actual new SAT score, this is a sign you just had bad luck on your new SAT. If you take it again, there is a good chance you'll score higher!