SAT Introduction What is the SAT The SAT

SAT Introduction

What is the SAT? • The SAT is the most popular standardized test used for admission into colleges and universities in the United States. First started in 1941 as the Scholastic Aptitude Test as an IQ test, the SAT of today has earned a place in every college going student's life.

What is the SAT? • Oddly enough SAT no longer stands for anything; rather than deal with controversial acronyms, the College Board sidesteps the issue by not having SAT actually be an acronym.

What is the SAT? • The SAT is generally taken by high school students who will soon be applying to postsecondary colleges and universities, though the test is open to anyone over the age of 12 desiring to attend college or university in the United States.

What is the SAT? • All that is required is to pay the registration fee, which can be waived in certain circumstances. After taking the test, students can elect to send their official scores to any college or university to which they would like to gain admission.

What is the SAT? • Students should be careful in taking the SAT multiple times, as the College Board will send all previous scores to these universities. For this reason, students should not take the SAT more than three times total.

What is the SAT? • Students should be careful to study between these tests to make sure each successive score report shows an improvement over the previous. There is an advantage to taking the test more than once, however, as many universities will combine the highest score for each of the sections across multiple test dates.

What is the SAT? • For example, if you score 650 on the Critical Reading, 600 on the Math, and 650 on the Writing section the first time you took the SAT and 680 on the Critical Reading, 580 on the Math, and 660 on the Writing section many colleges will consider your total score to be the 680 for Critical Reading from the second time you took the SAT, the 600 for Math from your first SAT, and the 650 from your first SAT for the Writing Section.

Why is the SAT so important? The SAT is required by many universities to be considered for admission. Though there are colleges that do not require it, all "brand name" universities and virtually all public ("state") universities do require it. In many cases, students can take the ACT rather than the SAT, and this decision often comes down to geography. Students in the Midwest tend to take the ACT and SAT, while students on the U. S. coasts tend to not take the ACT at all.

Why is the SAT so important? Other than being required for admission to many U. S. universities, the SAT is important for the following reasons: • Many scholarships require a minimum SAT score. • Many universities, especially state universities, will offer academic scholarships for students with a certain GPA and a minimum SAT score. • The SAT is a great way to set yourself apart from the college admission crowd. Having a high SAT score will allow you to separate out from the thousands of other people applying to college.

Why is the SAT so important? • For some students, taking both the SAT and ACT is a great option because they can submit whichever of the two scores is better (based on their percentile ranking) which then lets them increase their odds of acceptance in college admission. In general, taking both tests is highly recommended as students have little to lose but much to gain.

Details about the test • The SAT consists of three sections: Math, Critical Reading, and Writing. Scores on each section range from 200– 800, with scores always being a multiple of 10 (i. e. 580, 720, never 645 or 643). The scores for each of the sections are added together for the composite score, with a 2400 being a "perfect" SAT score. Students do not need to get all answers on the SAT correct to get a perfect score. More details are below in the Scoring section.

Details about the test • In addition to the nine sections that count towards the student's score, there is a 10 th section that will not count but that the College Board administers to test questions for future SATs. This extra section does not count towards a student's score. During the test, students will not know which section will not count towards their final score, so they should treat each section as though it does count. What is known, however, is that the essay, which is always the first section on the SAT, and Section 10, which is always a 10 -minute writing section, will always count towards a student's SAT score.

Details about the test • In addition to the nine sections that count towards the student's score, there is a 10 th section that will not count but that the College Board administers to test questions for future SATs. This extra section does not count towards a student's score. During the test, students will not know which section will not count towards their final score, so they should treat each section as though it does count. What is known, however, is that the essay, which is always the first section on the SAT, and Section 10, which is always a 10 -minute writing section, will always count towards a student's SAT score.

Details about the test • The SAT is administered seven times a year in the United States: in October, November, December, January, March (or sometimes April), May, and June. The SAT is usually offered on the first Saturday of the month for November, December, May, and June. Outside of the United States, the SAT is offered on the same dates as in the United States except for the first spring test date, which is either March or April.

Details about the test • During the test, students will not know which section will not count towards their final score, so they should treat each section as though it does count. What is known, however, is that the essay, which is always the first section on the SAT, and Section 10, which is always a 10 minute writing section, will always count towards a student's SAT score.

Details about the test • There are three separate scored sections that comprise the Math score: • One 25 -minute section with 20 Multiple Choice questions • One 25 -minute section with 18 questions: eight multiple choice questions, 10 grid-In questions (not multiple choice!) • One 20 -minute section with 16 Multiple Choice questions • There are three separate scored sections that comprise the Critical Reading score: • One 25 -minute section with 24 questions: eight sentence completions; four short critical reading passage questions; 12 critical reading questions from one passage • One 25 -minute section with 24 questions: five sentence completions, four short critical reading passage questions, 15 critical reading questions from two distinct passages • One 20 -minute section with 19 questions: six sentence completions, 13 Critical Reading questions from two related passages

Details about the test • There are three separate scored sections that comprise the Writing score: • One 25 -minute section with one Essay • One 25 -minute section with 35 questions: 11 improving sentences questions, 18 identifying sentence errors questions, six Improving Paragraphs questions • One 10 -minute section with 14 Improving Sentences question

Done by: Moussa Okasha I got all the information from collegeexpress. com