What is the SAT ?

Because of the variation in grading standards and course rigor across high schools worldwide, many schools use the SAT to judge academic potential. Today, the SAT is the benchmark assessment of the critical reading, mathematical reasoning, and writing skills students should have developed while in school and that they need to be successful at university.

Each year, more than two million students take the SAT. Nearly every university in America and many universities worldwide use the test as a common and objective scale for evaluating a student’s college readiness.

Each question is thoroughly tested to ensure the question is not biased towards any gender, race, or socio-economic situation.

At over 1,000 testing centers, the College Board offers the SAT six times a year: October, November, December, January, May and June. To ensure that the results for international students are held to “the same standards of quality, service, shipping, and security,” there are additional fees to take the tests. Students taking the test in the United States have the option to take the SAT in March.

 

Overview & Scoring

The SAT has three sections: math, reading, and writing. Each of the three sections that comprise the SAT Reasoning Test has a possible score range from 200 to 800 points.

When taking the test, each question is worth 1 raw point. For every question correct, students earn 1 point. For every question left blank, students earn 0 points. And for every question incorrect, students lose (1/4) of a point.

When the test is graded, students will have a raw score for math, reading, and writing. The math score is out of 54. The reading score is out of 67. The writing score is out of 49. Scores are then placed on a bell curve based on the average score of all test takers. This is why the Official Guide lists score ranges; your score depends both on how well you do and on how well everyone else does.

 

Math Overview

The SAT math section covers arithmetic, algebra, geometry, and data analysis. Students are allowed to use a calculator. There are at least three math sections. Students will have two 25-minute sections and one 20-minute section.

The 25-minute sections will have either 20 questions or 18 questions. The section with 18-questions will have 8 problem solving questions and 10 grid-in questions. Problem solving questions give a question and then 5 potential answer choices. Grid-in questions ask a question, but have no multiple choice answer options.

The 20-minute section will have 16 questions. These will be multple choice problem solving questions.

Students will be asked a range of math question, but will never have to use calculus, trigonometry, or advanced math. Students will have specific arithmetic questions, such as rate, average, and number definitions. Students will also have specific algebra questions, such as quadratic equations, simultaneous equations, and solving for x. Finally, students will have specific geometry questions, such as area and perimeter of parallelograms and triangles.

To do well on the math section, students should focus on overall strategies, specific techniques, and knowledge of each content type.

 

Reading Overview

The SAT reading section covers vocabulary and reading comprehension. Students are not allowed any outside material. There are at least three reading sections. Students will have two 25-minute sections and one 20-minute section.

The 25-minute sections will have 25 questions each. The 20-minute section will have 19 questions. Each question in the reading section is multiple choice, meaning you will have five potential answer choices for each question.

The first few questions will be sentence completion questions. These are vocabulary questions that give a sentence with one or two blanks. Your task is to pick the answer that uses the correct words for the blank. After your sentence completion questions, you will be tasked with short reading passages. Short reading passages are one paragraph passages followed by 2 to 4 questions. You will either answer questions on 1 passage or on 2 passages.

After your short reading passages, you will have either 1 or 2 long reading passages. These are followed by several questions. You are asked specific questions, general questions, purpose questions, vocabulary questions, inference questions, tone questions, and analysis questions.

To do well on the reading section, students should focus on the over strategy, specific question-type strategy, speed reading, and paraphrasing. Non-native English speakers tend to do poorest on the reading section. It’s important to learn speed reading and paraphrasing techniques to overcome reading difficulties.

 

Writing Overview

The SAT writing section covers writing, grammar, and paragraph structure. Students are not allowed any outside materail. There are at least three writing sections. Students will have one 25-minute essay, one 25-minute multiple choice section, and one 10-minute multiple choice section.

The essay is always the first section, and it is graded on a scale of 0 – 6. Your final essay score will be between 0 and 12, as it is graded by two people. That grade, coupled with your raw writing score, determines your writing SAT score.

There are two grammar question types, error identification and sentence correction. Error identification questions ask you to find an error in a sentence. You will be given one sentence with several words or phrases underlined. Your job is to find the underlined error. If there is no error, you will select the answer that says there is no error. Sentence correction questions ask you to fix the underlined portion of a sentence. You will be given a sentence with some or all of it underlined and each answer choice has an option to fix the underlined section. You must pick the grammatically correct option.

You will also be tasked with improving paragraphs. You are given a short essay with structural problems. Each question will ask you to add, remove, rewrite, or title the essay. Your job is to pick the best option from among your choices.

To do well on the writing section, you must learn the essay template, have good examples, understand the most common grammar errors, practice writing paragraphs, and learn the techniques and strategies for each question type.

 

NOTE:

A message from Craig Gonzales: Please do not hesitate to email any questions you may have about the SAT. I want you to do as well as possible. IF you think I can help you, start your classes today by signing up for private or small group SAT tutoring. If you think you only need help on one section, send me a direct message and I’ll do my best to help.

Thank you, and good luck with your tests!

Craig