An analysis of the combined SAT scores (Verbal + Math) of a sample of psychology majors at one school indicated that the mean was 939 and the standard deviation was 166. Show your calculations used the answer the following two questions.

a. A special psychology research program only accepts applicants who had an SAT score that placed them in the top 20% of the students. What is the minimum SAT score that would place them in the top 20%?

b. Special tutors are available to assist psychology students who had an SAT score in the bottom 10% of students. What SAT score cuts off the bottom 10% of this group of students?

2 answers

a. Z = (score-mean)/SD

Find table in the back of your statistics text labeled something like "areas under normal distribution" to find the Z score that fits that proportion. Insert the three values into the equation above to calculate the score.

b. Go through the same process.
Given a mean of 60, with a standard deviation of 12, and with a raw score of 75, find: (a) the z-score, (b) percentile rank, (c) t-score, (d) SAT score, and (e) stanine score. Discuss why there are so many kinds of standardized scores.