SAT Scores

The Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) is a multiple-choice test made up of verbal and mathematical questions divided into five 30-minute sections. The verbal questions measure the student’s ability to understand what is read and the extent of their vocabulary. The mathematical questions measure quantitative abilities closely related to college work.

The Test of Standard Written English (TSWE) is a 30-minute, multiple-choice examination administered with the SAT. The questions evaluate the student’s ability to recognize standard written English, the language of most college textbooks and the English students will be expected to use in papers written for college courses. The TSWE is not an admissions test. Instead, after admission, this exam may be used to place the student in the appropriate English course.

The SAT is administered seven times during the school year. Different forms of the SAT are used for each testing date. All candidates receive verbal and mathematical scores based on exactly the same questions at each administration of the test.

Both verbal and mathematical scores on the SAT are reported on a scale of 200 to 800. Raw scores are converted to a College Board scaled score so that it can be compared with the scores of students who have taken other editions of the the SAT. Scaled scores ensure that small difficulties of various editions of the SAT do not affect a student’s scores. Scores on the Test of Standard Written English are reported on a scale of 20 to 60+.

An SAT score alone has little practical meaning, since it does not tell where a student stands in comparison to other students. Norms, such as percentile ranks, are developed to allow such comparisons. A percentile rank is determined by calculating the percentage of scores in a group that are lower than a given score.

Although most colleges will accept either ACT or SAT results, many private and/or East Coast schools specifically request SAT scores.

The College Board has realigned the SAT to be more closely related to classroom work. The SAT has been revised and the new SAT was given in March 2005 for the class of 2006. It included a student-written essay and a multiple choice writing section. Analogies and quantitative comparisons are not part of the new SAT. Analogies have been replaced with short, paragraph-length reading passages. The new math section includes some advanced math, Algebra II.