SAT EXPLAINED
The Scholastic Aptitude Test or SAT is the most popular standardized test taken by high school students who will be applying to colleges and universities in the United States. SAT measures your performance in specific areas such as critical reading, math, and writing. It is generally taken by high school students, though the test is open to anyone over the age of 12. After taking the test, students can send their official scores to any college or university to which they want to apply.
SAT is a 3 hours and 45 minutes test mostly consisting of multiple choice questions, that is broken into 10 sections:
Scores in each section range from 200 to 800.The scores for each of the sections are added together for the composite score, with 2400 being a perfect SAT score.
Admission Calendar:
SAT Reasoning Tests are given seven times a year all over the United States, in October, November, December, January, March, May, and June. The SAT is usually offered on the first Saturday of the month for November, December, May and June.
Dates for SAT exams for 2007-08:
Why is SAT so important? The SAT is required by many universities to be considered for admission. Scoring well in SAT can strengthen your college application process. Many universities, especially state universities, offer academic scholarships for students with a certain GPA and a minimum SAT score
How is SAT organized?
SAT is broadly divided into three main sections namely Critical Reading, Writing and Math. The Critical reading section is 70 minutes long. The Writing segment is 1 hour. And Math is 70 minutes.
SAT scoring:
Regardless of the level of difficulty each SAT question is worth 1 point. Although majority of the questions are multiple choice, few math questions require a numerical answer. For multiple choice questions, a correct answer adds 1 point to a student's score, while an incorrect answer will deduct 0.25 points from the score, and a blank answer equals 0 points. For questions that require a numerical answer, a correct answer adds 1 point and an incorrect answer equals 0 points.
The correct answers give the raw score of the student which is compared to all other students who took that same test and converted to a "scaled score" from 200 to 800.
Scaling is done to maintain consistency between SAT tests. This process of comparing raw score to the scaled score is what makes the SAT a standardized test.
* Have questions? See Frequently Asked Questions.
SAT is a 3 hours and 45 minutes test mostly consisting of multiple choice questions, that is broken into 10 sections:
| TIME | SECTIONS |
| 25 minutes | 7 |
| 20 minutes | 2 |
| 10 minutes | 1 |
Scores in each section range from 200 to 800.The scores for each of the sections are added together for the composite score, with 2400 being a perfect SAT score.
Admission Calendar:
SAT Reasoning Tests are given seven times a year all over the United States, in October, November, December, January, March, May, and June. The SAT is usually offered on the first Saturday of the month for November, December, May and June.
Dates for SAT exams for 2007-08:
| DATES | LAST DATE FOR REGISTERATION |
| 6 October 2007 | 10 September 2007 |
| 3 November 2007 | 2 October 2007 |
| 1 December 2007 | 30 October 2007 |
| 26 January 2008 | 26 December 2007 |
| 1 March 2008 | 29 January 2008 |
| 3 May 2008 | 1 April 2008 |
| 7 June 2008 | 6 May 2008 |
Why is SAT so important? The SAT is required by many universities to be considered for admission. Scoring well in SAT can strengthen your college application process. Many universities, especially state universities, offer academic scholarships for students with a certain GPA and a minimum SAT score
How is SAT organized?
SAT is broadly divided into three main sections namely Critical Reading, Writing and Math. The Critical reading section is 70 minutes long. The Writing segment is 1 hour. And Math is 70 minutes.
| TIME | SUBJECT | NUMBER OF QUESTIONS |
| 70 minutes | Critical Reading | |
| 25 minutes | 8 Sentence Completions, 4 Short Critical Reading Passage questions and 12 Critical Reading questions from 1 passage | 24 |
| 25 minutes | 5 Sentence Completions, 4 Short Critical Reading Passage questions, 15 Critical Reading questions from 2 distinct passages. | 24 |
| 20 minutes | 6 Sentence Completions, 13 Critical Reading questions from 2 related passages | 19 |
| 70 minutes | Math | |
| 25 minutes | Multiple Choice questions | 20 |
| 25 minutes | 8 Multiple Choice questions and 10 Grid-In questions. | 18 |
| 20 minutes | Multiple Choice questions | 16 |
| 60 minutes | Writing | |
| 25 minutes | Essay | 1 |
| 25 minutes | 11 Improving Sentences questions, 18 Identifying Sentence Errors questions and 6 Improving Paragraphs questions | 35 |
| 10 minutes | Improving Sentences question | 14 |
SAT scoring:
Regardless of the level of difficulty each SAT question is worth 1 point. Although majority of the questions are multiple choice, few math questions require a numerical answer. For multiple choice questions, a correct answer adds 1 point to a student's score, while an incorrect answer will deduct 0.25 points from the score, and a blank answer equals 0 points. For questions that require a numerical answer, a correct answer adds 1 point and an incorrect answer equals 0 points.
The correct answers give the raw score of the student which is compared to all other students who took that same test and converted to a "scaled score" from 200 to 800.
Scaling is done to maintain consistency between SAT tests. This process of comparing raw score to the scaled score is what makes the SAT a standardized test.
* Have questions? See Frequently Asked Questions.