Sat Scoring System

The SAT is one of the most important tests you’ll ever take. Your chances of acceptance increase if you have a high SAT score. Colleges use SAT scores to determine whether or not you will be a good fit for their school.Before taking it, it’s important that you learn as much as possible about it, to minimize the number of unwanted surprises you’ll encounter when you take the test and receive your score report. This article is intended to provide an overview of one of the most basic aspects of the test: the scoring system.

How Responses are Graded:

For the Critical and Math sections of the test, you’ll be presented with multiple-choice questions that have only one correct answer. Obviously, your score increases with every correct answer. But there’s a catch that some test takers may be unfamiliar with, especially if they’re more familiar with the ACT test: each wrong answer lowers your score slightly.

The Writing section includes an essay prompt, which is graded by official readers according to a rubric.

Sat Scoring Process
You can think of the SAT scoring process as 3 separate steps:
 (1) Calculate Raw Score

The raw score determine how well the student answered the multiple choice question. If you get the answer correct, you’re awarded 1 point. If you don’t get the answer correct, then you get .25 points subtracted from your score. If you don’t answer the question at all, then you get 0 points.

 (2) Equate Raw Score
Next, the score is equated. This involves performing a complex statistical analysis on the results of your exam.  This process makes sure that your final exam score will reflect your actual skills by taking into account the difficulty level of the exam you took compared to the difficulty level of the exams that all the other students took.

(3) Scaled Score or Final Score.
Once the equating process is done, your raw score is then converted to your scaled score or final score.

Scoring Limits

Writing (200-800)
Math (200-800)
Critical Reading (200-800)

Perfect Scores
A perfect score is 2,400 points. Approximately 1,000,000 students take the SAT each year and on average, only 20 of them get a perfect score.

What Final Scores Mean:

The possible scores for each section range from 200 to 800. The 50th percentile score for each section is approximately 500, meaning half of test takers score above 500 and half score below. Therefore, the average total score on the test is approximately 1500.

More statistically inclined readers may be interested to know that the standard deviation for each section score is 100. This means that a score of 600, for example, is higher than 84% of all test takers. Approximately 68% of all test takers score between 400 and 600 on each section of the test.

That is a basic breakdown of SAT scoring. Of course, there’s more detailed information available through College Board, the company that makes the SAT. More in-depth information is also provided on the scoring report each test taker receives after their test is graded.

Sat Test-Sat Test Dates and Deadlines

Sat Test Dates and Deadlines
Find Sat test dates and  Registration deadlines of 2011-2012

Test Date	Tests Offered	Regular Registration Closes	Late Registration Closes
Jan. 22, 2011	SAT&Subject Tests	Dec. 23	Jan. 7
March 12, 2011	SAT Test Only	Feb. 11	Feb. 25
May 7, 2011	SAT&Subject Tests	April 8	April 22
June 4, 2011	SAT&Subject Tests	May 6	May 20
October 1, 2011	SAT&Subject Tests	TBD	TBD
November 5, 2011	SAT&Subject Tests	TBD	TBD
December 3, 2011	SAT&Subject Tests	TBD	TBD
January 28, 2012	SAT&Subject Tests	TBD	TBD
March 10, 2012	SAT Only	TBD	TBD
May 5, 2012	SAT&Subject Tests	TBD	TBD
June 2, 2012	SAT&Subject Tests	TBD	TBD

International Registration Deadlines Important Information

• International deadlines apply to anyone testing outside of the United States, U.S. Territories, and Puerto Rico.
• International registration materials must be received by the international deadlines.
• There is no late registration for international testing. Online and telephone registrations must be completed by the international deadline dates listed above.
• Students registering through International Representatives must submit their paper registration with full payment by the early registration deadline.
• On March, the SAT is not offered outside of the United States, U.S. Territories, and Puerto Rico.

6 Common SAT Myths Busted

The SAT world is full of myths. Certain myths have been floating around, making this whole study harder than it has to be. These facts shown below are obtained through real testing and analysis not any hypothetical claims. So let’s get started .

Myth #1: The SAT is a measure of your IQ or aptitude
Fact: The SAT is NOT a measurement of your IQ or aptitude. Think about it – if the SAT were a measurement of IQ or aptitude, how do we account for score improvements? Did the test taker just suddenly become more intelligent after some time? Of course not. It would be great if people could just raise their intelliegence because then there would be no stupid people on Earth. The SAT only measures your ability to do well on the test and nothing else.

Myth #2: The SAT tests on skills you already learned from school
Fact: While it is true that the SAT tests on reading, writing and math, all of which you have learned in school, the type of reading, writing and math you do on the SAT is NOT the same as that of school work. Yes, you do rely on your knowledge of some basic subject matter you acquired from scool but ultimately, the SAT is a standardized test and the skills required to excel on the test is different from the skills required to excel in school.

Myth #3: The SAT requires years to prepare for
Fact: It is possible to prepare for the SAT in a short amount of time if you focus on the right preparation methods. Granted, some people will take longer then others to improve on the SAT. However, to say that improving on the SAT requires years of hard work is plain wrong.

Myth #4: The SAT is a complicated test with random questions
Fact: The SAT is a STANDARDIZED test which tests on repeated concepts over and over again. There are no random questions on the SAT. Every question put out by the College Board for every SAT administration must comply with the SAT standards or else the SAT cannot be considered as a standardized test. So the last thing you want to do is start working on some random math workbook thinking that it would improve your score on the SAT math section.

Myth #5: There is a best month to take the SAT
Fact: There is no best month to take the SAT. Every SAT administration has a unique moderating curve tailored to that specific test. If you happen to get an “easier” test on test day, then the curve would be harsher, meaning that your mistakes will result in more points lost. If you happen to get a more “difficult” test, then the curve would be more lenient, meaning that you each mistake would result in fewer points lost. This specific moderating curve serves to ensure that all SAT scores are comparable.
This means that someone who got a 2200 on the May 2010 SAT is considered to have the same standard as someone who got a 2200 on the January 2011 SAT. This is the only way for the SAT to be a fair college admission test. If there was any best month to take the SAT because that month had an “easier” test, then wouldn’t it be unfair to other SAT takers who didn’t take the SAT on that particular month? The college admission process would in turn by unfair.

Myth #6: You should always guess if you can eliminate at least one answer choice
Fact: Guessing will hurt your score more often than not. I have been analysing guessing for some time, and I have found that guessing will cause you to lose points more often than not. I go into a lot more detail on guessing in my book, The SAT Excellence Prep Book so if you’re interested go get yourself a copy (sorry for the shameless self promotion ). But for now, I want to you to do this – make a record of how many questions you get right and wrong when you guess based on an entire practice test (or more if you want to). See for yourself if guessing is helping your score.

Article extracted from http://www.satexcellence.com/6-common-sat-myths-debunked