HELP!

[beandelphiki]

LJ is being such a bitch right now, it keeps refusing to load pages, and I'm having problems getting comment pages to load. Anyone else having this problem? I wonder if it's just me.


Anyway - can anyone explain SAT scores to poor, little Canadian me?

Someone said that Bush got 1206 on his SATs. Is that bad? I have no clue, and when I tried looking up how the scores worked, nothing was very helpful.

*head scratch*

I sort of want info on them because I'm considering finding out a way to take them. (I'm thinking that if I had been smart, I would have signed up to take them in high school when the option was given to us. Now I have no idea where to start.)

So...

Comments

[jezbian.livejournal.com]

SATs basically have two sections (math and verbal) worth 800 points each for a total of 1600. you get a certain number of points for correct answers and you lose a fraction of points for incorrect answers, with blank answers not changing the score either way. the exact system for scoring is kinda complicated, and you get 200 points just for filling in your name correctly.

1200 is about average, i'd say, but i don't really know because my highschool got excited if you scored a 1000 and i thought 1000 was really low. most colleges will list the accepted students' average SAT scores and you can kinda compare based on that. i personally think the SATs are a bunch of bullshit though.

[beandelphiki.livejournal.com]

you lose a fraction of points for incorrect answers, with blank answers not changing the score either way.

Arrgh, so you're not only losing marks for not knowing the answer, you're being punished for trying to answer? My head hurts...

the exact system for scoring is kinda complicated, and you get 200 points just for filling in your name correctly.

Really? Because that would be so incredibly funny. :P


Some other things I came up with:

I've heard of something called the PSATs, which I got the impression is like a prep for the SAT you take in gr. 11. Same scoring system for that?

And how much would you need to know American history? Since you said it's math and verbal, I would have thought not a lot...


Anyway, thank you muchly. I was confused as to what the "top" mark was, since I've seen 1600, but I've also heard 1400 raved over. So I wasn't certain.

[jezbian.livejournal.com]

you aren't punished per se for not knowing an answer, just as long as you leave it blank. generally if you can narrow the choices down to two then you should make a guess, because you stand to gain more if you're right than you'd lose if you were wrong. but if you've got absolutely no clue then leave it blank.

pSAT is pre-SAT, yeah. it usually is in 11th grade, but sometimes you can take it before then too. it works the same way, except there's also a writing section on it which is completely seperate from the verbal/math. it's worth another 800 points, except i believe that on the pSAT they change the scale to a tenth of the SAT scale so your top scores in any area is 80. they do this so they can more easily calculate your test index number or some shit, which is the thing that can earn you national merit scholarships if it's high enough. that's the only reason i even bothered taking the pSAT. but obviously you don't gotta worry about that. :P

and.. i only took the SAT once and i don't really remember if there was much to do with american history. i really doubt it, though i suppose it's possible that there were a couple analogies or something which assume you know general info. but the SAT also has many many different versions, so, i couldn't guarantee whether or not there'd be anything like that on yours. =/

absolute perfect score (no wrongs and up to two blanks in each section) is 1600, which is rare to get. 1300 is usually considered pretty damn good, 1400-1500 is raved about by highschoolers, 1500+ is seen as nigh impossible by most highschoolers.

my highschool had a huge problem with kids doing really crappily on the SATs, so my senior year they started bringing in counselors all the time to lecture all the english classes and i think i sat through about three lectures on the test and how it works, etc etc. they even made it a new rule that you had to take official study lessons of some sort before they'd let you register to take the SAT, and made us fill out a checklist of the study methods we'd used.. luckily i'd already taken the test before that rule, because i handed in a blank checklist and the counselor just about flipped out on me. presumptuous bitch. ... bitter? why, no. :P

[beandelphiki.livejournal.com]

they even made it a new rule that you had to take official study lessons of some sort before they'd let you register to take the SAT, and made us fill out a checklist of the study methods we'd used.. luckily i'd already taken the test before that rule, because i handed in a blank checklist and the counselor just about flipped out on me. presumptuous bitch.

Ugh, I hate it when schools pull things like that. I probably would have done the very same thing. I study for things in only one way - I read the textbook. Once. My memory carries me through with ease. Getting lectures on study methods bores me to tears.

Anyway, thanks again. That was very helpful. :)

[jezbian.livejournal.com]

ps - also, and here's a little known fact: most colleges let you take the SAT multiple times and then combine your two highest section scores. like if you take it twice and get math 500 verbal 700 on one and then math 700 verbal 500 on another, you can combine the first verbal and second math for a score of 1400 instead of the 1200.

[beandelphiki.livejournal.com]

Now, THAT'S neat. :P

[maridreaming.livejournal.com]

it's supposed to be all important, but it kinda just ends up measuring how well you take tests

[beandelphiki.livejournal.com]

Heh, well most tests you take in school are like that. :P I think it's pretty sad, really.

[criminalasylum.livejournal.com]

Yeah 1200 is pretty good. You need about that to get full scholarship to state universities in Florida plus other stuff. collegeboard.com

That's where I went. I don't know if the do canada...but yeah...you do live in canada right? Or am I just imagining things?

[beandelphiki.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I live in Canada. :) Which is the reason I'm asking because if you want to go to an American college/university at any point, you have to take the SATs. Our Provincial Exams aren't transferable, I guess. *shrug*

[kshatri.livejournal.com]

I got a 1330 and Isa got like a 28429384 berjillion (well, in the upper 1400s as I recall). Though they say SAT scores have been inflated over the years..

anyway, 1206 is nice but nothing too special.

[beandelphiki.livejournal.com]

Thanks. :)

[siegeengine.livejournal.com]

omg I'm kind of chagrined right about now, with everyone posting their scores.

I guess I can cling to the vague hope that they're right that the scores have been inflated slightly over the years... I took mine so long ago, y'see.

(at least I beat the Shrubbery)

[beandelphiki.livejournal.com]

Hey, nobody's looking. ;)

What didja get?

[siegeengine.livejournal.com]

argh.. sure, nobody's looking.
;)

1270

610 math, 660 verbal.

I was soooo disappointed.

But I got a 204 on the PSAT, which was in the top 2% in the nation, oddly enough, and got a National Merit Scholarship from that. *shrugs*

[beandelphiki.livejournal.com]

That's odd.

Aren't the PSATs like the same thing?

[siegeengine.livejournal.com]

they're similar, but shorter and scored differently. According to the college board site (who administers the test(s)) the range is from 80 to 240, with 147 being average.

PSAT/NMSQT Scoring

They also have info on how to register for the SAT online... I guess the only country you can't register online from is Kenya. *shrugs*
here's the SAT link