Examining Your Mind: What the SAT Really Looks For
The exam attempts to measure the skills you need to succeed in school and in the workplace. It is not a measure of how smart you are, nor is it a measure of how well you do in school. It measures how adaptable you are, and especially how well you prepare for a blockbuster exam.
The SAT doesn’t test facts you studied in school. You don’t need to know when Columbus sailed across the Atlantic or how to calculate the molecular weight of an atom. Instead, the SAT takes aim at your ability to follow a logical sequence, to comprehend what you’ve read, and to write clearly in Standard English. The math portion checks on the math skills you have picked up during your years in high school. The point is the SAT isn’t a giant final exam or a review of high school. It’s a test of your skills, not your knowledge.
Use this to your advantage. The skills for the Reading Test, covered in Chapter 3, are easy to learn and just take practice to master. The details asked in the Writing and Language Test are of a limited scope and fully reviewed in Chapter 5. The skills for the Math Test are also of a limited scope and are captured in Part 4 of this book. In other words, pretty much everything you need to know for the SAT fits into a medium-sized book. There may be an occasional “oddball” question as the SAT steps outside its defined scope of topics, but these questions are very few and very far between.
One caveat (disclaimer) to the preceding claim: Everything you need to know for the SAT is right here in this book assuming you already have a basic grasp of English and math. This claim assumes that you have certain skills at the basic high-school level: You can read and understand a narrative in English, you can construct a complete sentence in English, and you can execute basic math, which includes long division and adding fractions. If any of these topics is an area where you struggle, there are literally thousands of books and resources available to you, many free online or at a library. You can also check with your school for any type of remedial program, including student tutors. This is something you can easily fix and place into the past.
Scoring on the SAT
The SAT gives colleges an in-depth look at your skills and performance. If you take the exam more than once, as most students do, you can use the detailed information from your score reports to craft a personalized study program and zero in on the skills you need to fine-tune.
Types of scores
The redesigned SAT gives you a number of scores. Here’s the idea:
Composite score: This is the score that everyone is worried about. It’s the sum of the Reading Test, Writing and Language Test, and Math Tests (400 to 1600 points). The maximum SAT score is 1600, with a top combined score of 800 on the Reading Test and the Writing and Language Test and 800 on Math Tests. The minimum is 400, which you get for showing up.
Essay score: The optional essay receives separate scores for reading, analysis, and writing, each scored at 2 to 8 points, for a total range of 6 (for showing up) to 24 (for knocking it out).
Cross-test scores: These scores are determined by questions of a particular type in all three areas of the SAT (Reading, Writing and Language, and Math). You get a score for analysis in history/social studies (10 to 40 points) and another for analysis in science (10 to 40 points). These cross-test scores are a metric of your performance, but not one that schools typically pay attention to.
Subscores: Here’s another way that the SAT slices and dices your performance. On the Reading Test and the Writing and Language Test, there are scores for command of evidence (1 to 15 points) and understanding words in context (1 to 15 points). On the Writing and Language Test, you get scores for expression of ideas (1 to 15 points) and Standard English conventions (1 to 15 points). The Math Tests also do this, giving you 1 to 15 points each for algebra, advanced math, and problem solving/data analysis. Don’t worry about these subscores as much. Schools almost always look at your composite score and your essay score.
Score reporting
The SAT experience includes four score reports which can be sent to your choice of schools. (Yikes? Not really. More like, Yes!) If you want to send out more reports to more schools, you can do so for a nominal fee. Check the College Board website at www.collegeboard.org for current prices. You can request additional score reports when you sign up for the exam, when you take the exam, or after the fact. At the time of this writing, your scores are good for five years.
After you get your SAT scores, you can order a Question and Answer Service, which shows each question from the exam, which answer you selected, and if applicable, the correct answer. There is a small fee for this, and the fee waiver may apply. If you are planning to retake the SAT, you absolutely must order this service: It’s like turning on a light to see your exam performance. The bad thing is that this service isn’t available for some tests, but the good thing is that it is free with your PSAT, so use that!
Score reports arrive in your mailbox and at your high school about five weeks after you take the test, and in your email about a week sooner. The College Board usually posts on its website the date that the test scores will be available.
Last thing. Be sure to create a free College Board account at www.collegeboard.org, where you can check your scores and register for the SAT, PSAT, and any SAT Subject Tests. Here, along with your score, you can find how well you did in comparison to everyone else who took the exam when you did. You can also immediately access the Question and Answer Service and get right to the questions.
Chapter 2
Strategies for Success
IN THIS CHAPTER