SAT Score Scale
The SAT test is a standardized test that is taken by students applying to universities and colleges in the United States. The first SAT test was administered in 1901. The aim of the test is to determine how ready a high school student is for college.
The SAT is scored in a manner so that college admission offices can compare all applicants by the same test. This is done due to the large variance in coursework and activities offered between the various states, school systems, public and private schools, and the different learning process experienced by home-schooled students.
The SAT test is taken by high school juniors and seniors. The test has three sections; each section receives a separate score. These sections are a math section, a critical reading section and a writing section.
The final score of the SAT test is based off of points earned in each of these three sections. Each section is scored on a scale between 200-800 points.
A student will receive their SAT score, via the internet, around three weeks after completing the test. The score that the student receives will be a combination of all three sections. When a student receives their score, they will also receive what percentile the score falls into.
SAT Score Precentile
This percentile will show how many students obtained SAT scores which are below this particular student. In addition to the percentile, the student will also receive their raw score.
The raw score will show how many points the student obtained for each question with the correct answers and number of points they lost for incorrect answers. The raw score equals the correct answers minus a portion of the incorrect answers. Questions that a student skips do not affect their raw score or total score.
Correct answers receive one point. Incorrect answers on multiple choice questions equal a subtraction of ¼ of a point from the raw score. Incorrect answers on student-produced responses do not affect the student’s score. This raw score does not equate to the final SAT score that the student receives.
The SAT test administers take the raw score and to determine what percentile the scores fall into. Administrators aim for the raw score to fall around the 50th percentile. Then this percentile score is converted into the 200-800 point system.
The overall goal is for a 500 point score per section to reflect the 50th percentile. The percentile score is altered into the 200-800 point scale based on the bell curve.
SAT Critical Reading
For the critical reading section, a student will answer an average of 67 questions. If a student answers 40 of these 67 questions correct, then they have a raw score of 33.25. On average, this score falls around the 50th percentile. Administrators would place this score between a 500-530, based on the bell curve of the 200-800 point system.
SAT Math Section
The math section has an average of 54 questions. If a student answers 35 of these correct, they have a raw score of 30.25. On average, this score falls around the 50th percentile. For the math section, administrators would place this score between a 510-570.
SAT Writing Section
In addition to the 200-800 points possible for each section, the writing section is broken into two sub sections to calculate the 200-800 points. These two sections are an essay section and a multiple choice section.
Administrators do not determine the raw score of the writing section the same way as the math and reading sections. 70% of the raw score is from the multiple choice writing section and 30% of the raw score is from the essay section.
The essay section is scored by two separate teachers. Each of these teachers reads the essay and rates it on a scale of 1-6. The raw score of this section is the combination of these two scores. This is then combined with the multiple choice score to calculate the entire writing section’s raw score.
For example, the multiple choice portion of the writing section has 49 questions. If a student answers 30 of these correct, they have a raw score of 25.25. For the essay section, a student receives a three and a four from the two teachers grading their essay. This student will receive a raw score of seven for the essay portion.
To obtain the raw score the entire writing section, 70% of the score comes from the multiple choice section and 30% comes from the essay section. The multiple choice section score is 25.25 and the essay section score is 7. Based on the above percentages, the raw score of the entire writing section is 19.775. On average, this score falls around the 40th percentile. For the writing section, administrators would place this score between a 440-460.
In the end, the three scaled scores from each section are combined to equal the SAT total score. If you used the scores above, this student would have a total SAT score between 1450-1560.