Understanding the SAT

The SAT is on the mind of most if not all college bound students. First I will go over how the test is scored. Raw vs. Scaled after taking the test your test is graded which is your raw SAT score. This is the number of points you received. This number is calculated by the number of questions you answered right, minus a fraction of the number answered wrong. Questions you skipped do not count against or for you.

For every answer you provide a correct answer you receive one full point. For every incorrect answer that is a 5-choice question subtract 1/4 of a point 4-choice question subtract 1/3 of a point 3-choice question subtract 1/2 of a point.

Then your raw score is converted to a "scaled score" which is the number that ranges from 200 to 800 points in each section. This number is converted by a statistical process known as equating. Equating is suppose to "level your playing field" say the persons test next to you is easier, equating (hypothetically) takes this into account.

Next, let's talk about the new and extremely confusing writing section. The SAT now contains a 25-minute essay portion which is scored on a 2 to 12 scale. Usually this portion is scored by two different readers, each who give you a score ranging from 1 to 6 called a sub score. Those are then compiled into the 2 to 12 scale. If the two readers scores differ by more than one point a third reader is brought in to be the "tie breaker" so to speak. The multiple choice section of the writing section makes up 70% of your writing score leaving the remaining 30% for you actual writing. The multiple answer section is graded just like previous scaled scores are. Then by some magical formula they produce your score in the commonly known 200 to 800 scale.

Whew, now that we've covered the basics on how it's graded we can answer the easy questions. What is the average SAT score? College Board released the average scores of college bound seniors "Critical reading: 502 Mathematics: 515 Writing: 494" which is a complied score of 1511.

Are you scores good enough? Well that depends on where you plan on attending college.

Here are a few examples for you

Duke

• Critical Reading: 690 - 770
• Mathematics: 690 - 790
• Writing: 680 - 780

Harvard

• Critical Reading: 690 - 800
• Mathematics: 700 - 790
• Writing: 690 - 780

MIT, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

• Critical Reading: 660 - 760
• Mathematics: 720 - 800
• Writing: 660 - 750

As you can see the numbers vary from University to University while Harvard asks for a 700 to a 790 in math a 700 would not be acceptable for MIT because it need a extremely solid math score because of there type of curriculum.

If you have any additional questions please feel free to leave a comment and I will answer it as soon I'm humanly possible.
I received most of my info from http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/sat/scores/understanding.html