New SAT Grading Scale Released for NCAA and NAIA Initial Eligibility

In the spring of 2016, the SAT rolled out a newly formatted exam. As a result, both the NCAA and NAIA recently released revised SAT minimum score requirements, which are sure to catch some high school athletes off guard.

For example, for an athlete who was in desperate need of a SAT score of 1000 in order to meet NCAA D1 requirements based upon their D1 sliding scale core GPA, they would now need to score a 1080 on the new SAT in order to meet initial-eligibility requirements.

Why is this the case? The changes to the content and format of the new SAT were significant enough to negate direct score comparisons with the old test. The College Board published a score converter which then lead to adjustments by both the NCAA and the NAIA.

Here is a sample of the conversions used by NCAA SAT Concordance Table:

• NEW SAT score of 1000 = NCAA D1 eligibility score of 920 for sliding scale

• NEW SAT score of 800 = NCAA D1 eligibility score of 710 for sliding scale

The NAIA has also revamped its minimum academic requirements based upon the new SAT, raising the minimum score of 860 on the OLD SAT to a score of 940 on the NEW SAT. To provide some relief, the NAIA is providing exemptions for athletes in the class of 2016 who score between 860 and 930. All future classes will be required to meet the new 940 benchmark.

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