Test Preparation

Each subject area on the SAT - Math, Writing, and Critical Reading - is scored on a scale of 200 to 800. The three scores are then totaled, for a combined score between 600 and 2,400. The average SAT score is about 500 per section, or 1,500 total.

You’ll receive your score report about two to four weeks after you take the test. It will include your scaled score as well as your percentile rank, which tells you how you performed relative to other people who took the same test. If your score is in the 60th percentile, it means that you scored better than 60 percen of test takers.

One way of thinking of your SAT score is to imagine yourself in a line with 100 other students, all waiting to be seen by an admissions officer. However, the officer can’t see every student - some students won’t make it through the door. If your SAT score is in the 50th percentile, you’d have fifty other kids in front of you in line. Maybe you’ll be seen, maybe not. Wouldn’t it be nice to jump the line? If you can boost your SAT score, even by a couple of points, you move up the line and increase your odds of getting through the door.

Score Choice
Beginning with the March 2009 SAT, you’ll be able to choose which SAT and SAT Subject Test scores you want colleges to see. This is great news! Let’s say that you take the SAT in March and don’t think you did as well as you could have - maybe you had a cold that day - so you take it again in May. This time you do much better. Under the College Board’s standard reporting policy ALL of your scores would be sent to the colleges you’re applying to. With Score Choice, as it’s being called, you can have only your May SAT scores sent. But pay attention: You can specify only the test date you want sent, not the section. (In other words, you can’t have your Math score from March but your Reading and Writing scores from May sent. It’s either all of March, or all of May.) Also, while the change will go into effect beginning with the March 2009 test date, you’ll be allowed to use the new feature retroactively for scores prior to March 2009. So if you have an older SAT score from December that isn’t as good as you’d like, you’ll be able to choose not to send it out to schools.

Score Choice will be optional for students - this means that you have to opt in and actively choose which specific tests you want to send to colleges. If you choose not to use Score Choice, then all of the scores on file for you will automatically be sent when you request score reports be sent to a college you’re applying to.

For more information about the new score-reporting policy, go to the College Board website at www.collegeboard.com.

When is the SAT given?
The SAT schedule for the 2009-10 school year is posted at www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/sat/calenfees.html. If the test date you’re looking for is not posted yet, check this site for updates.

There are two different ways to sign up for the test. You can sign up online by going to www.collegeboard.com and clicking on ‘register for the SAT,’ or sign up through the mail with an SAT Registration Booklet, which should be available at your school guidance counselor’s office.

When you go to the College Board website, take a moment to look at the services they offer and feel free to contact them requesting any that you want.

Plan to take the SAT in either the spring of your junior year or the fall of your senior year. Because you might be expected to take as many as 3 SAT Subject Tests, don’t save everything for the last minute. Sit down with your SAT and SAT Subject Test registration booklets and work out a schedule.