Understanding the Scoring Factors of the SAT

Each and every year, high school seniors all over the country are asked the same questions over and over again. What schools have you applied to? Have you gotten in anywhere? And how about those SAT scores? The mere thought of it all sends me back more years than I care to admit. Right back into the stress of picking the right school, or rather, the right school picking me. I can remember my mom talking about the SATs as if this test would single handedly define my life as a young man. And though I had very little understanding of about the scoring factors involved with the SATs, I quickly began to believe her.

But even with my mother's hearty fear instilled in me, I went into my first SAT test largely blind. I really was unaware of how or even what I was to be tested on. This could have factored into my decision to take the test on more than one occasion. I can't remember my final score, but I know it was significantly lower than 1500, which today is considered an average score out of 2400 total points. There are three basic categories that affect the overall scoring factors: math, critical reading, and math. The final count is actually much more complicated. These are all things I wish I had known.

The first factor that will determine the outcome of the SAT is what is referred to as the raw score. Ultimately, the raw score will calculate how well a test taker answered the multiple choice questions. And contrary to the advice of my older brother—which I didn't follow—it is not a good idea to go through the test, answering all the multiple choice questions at random. In fact, the test writers have implemented a scoring factor that accounts for such a strategy. Answer a multiple choice question correctly and you get one point. Answer a question incorrectly and you receive zero points. But every time you answer a multiple choice question wrong, it costs you an extra fourth of a point. Thusly, the SAT's strategy for foiling the random answer bandits who try to cut corners through the test by mixing in a smattering of A's with a few B's, C's, and D's here and there. This is something my brother probably would have liked to know.

The scaled score is the second scoring factor. This will cast all the scores from a given year into the same light which will provide a scale for the multiple choice categories. The scaled score allows colleges to compare and contrast test scores of every student who takes the SAT, regardless of when and where they took the test. This isn't even close to being the full picture. The essay portion of the test is the final factor in determining your score; and this is very important as it will be responsible for up to one third of the final score. Once all of these things are factored in, you've got a complete SAT score. Then all that's left to do is sit back, hope for something between a 1500 and 2400, and wait for those acceptance letters to start rolling in.

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