Compass Education Group

SAT Essay Scores Explained

On january 19th, 2021, college board announced that they will no longer administer the sat subject tests in the u.s. and that the essay would be retired. read our blog post  to understand what this means in the near term and what the college board has in store for students down the road., our articles on subject tests and the sat essay will remain on our site for reference purposes as colleges and students transition to a revised testing landscape..

essay sat scoring

Why are there no percentiles for the essay on an SAT score report?

No percentiles or norms are provided in student reports. Even colleges do not receive any summary statistics. Given Compass’ concerns about the inaccuracy of essay scoring and the notable failures of the ACT on that front, the de-emphasis of norms would seem to be a good thing. The problem is that 10% of colleges are sticking with the SAT Essay as an admission requirement . While those colleges will not receive score distribution reports from the College Board, it is not difficult for them to construct their own statistics—officially or unofficially—based on thousands of applicants. Colleges can determine a “good score,” but students cannot. This asymmetry of information is harmful to students, as they are left to speculate how well they have performed and how their scores will be interpreted. Through our analysis, Compass hopes to provide students and parents more context for evaluating SAT Essay scores.

How has scoring changed? Is it still part of a student’s Total Score?

On the old SAT, the essay was a required component of the Writing section and made up approximately one-third of a student’s 200–800 score. The essay score itself was simply the sum (2–12) of two readers’ 1–6 scores. Readers were expected to grade holistically and not to focus on individual components of the writing. The SAT essay came under a great deal of criticism for being too loosely structured. Factual accuracy was not required; it was not that difficult to make pre-fabricated material fit the prompt; many colleges found the 2–12 essay scores of little use; and the conflation of the essay and “Writing” was, in some cases, blocking the use of the SAT Writing score—which included grammar and usage—entirely.

With the 2016 overhaul of the SAT came an attempt to make the essay more academically defensible while also making it optional (as the ACT essay had long been). The essay score is not a part of the 400–1600 score. Instead, a student opting to take the SAT Essay receives 2–8 scores in three dimensions: reading, analysis, and writing. No equating or fancy lookup table is involved. The scores are simply the sum of two readers’ 1–4 ratings in each dimension. There is no official totaling or averaging of scores, although colleges may choose to do so.

Readers avoid extremes

What is almost universally true about grading of standardized test essays is that readers gravitate to the middle of the scale. The default instinct is to nudge a score above or below a perceived cutoff or midpoint rather than to evenly distribute scores. When the only options are 1, 2, 3, or 4, the consequence is predictable—readers give out a lot of 2s and 3s and very few 1s and 4s. In fact, our analysis shows that 80% of all reader scores are 2s or 3s. This, in turn, means that most of the dimension scores (the sum of the two readers) range from 4 to 6. Analysis scores are outliers. A third of readers give essays a 1 in Analysis. Below is the distribution of reader scores across all dimensions.

What is a good SAT Essay score?

By combining multiple data sources—including extensive College Board scoring information—Compass has estimated the mean and mode (most common) essay scores for students at various score levels. We also found that the reading and writing dimensions were similar, while analysis scores lagged by a point across all sub-groups. These figures should not be viewed as cutoffs for “good” scores. The loose correlation of essay score to Total Score and the high standard deviation of essay scores means that students at all levels see wide variation of scores. The average essay-taking student scores a 1,080 on the SAT and receives just under a 5/4/5.

essay sat scoring

College Board recently released essay results for the class of 2017, so score distributions are now available. From these, percentiles can also be calculated. We provide these figures with mixed feelings. On the one hand, percentile scores on such an imperfect measure can be highly misleading. On the other hand, we feel that students should understand the full workings of essay scores.

The role of luck

What is frustrating to many students on the SAT and ACT is that they can score 98th percentile in most areas and then get a “middling” score on the essay. This result is actually quite predictable. Whereas math and verbal scores are the result of dozens of objective questions, the essay is a single question graded subjectively. To replace statistical concepts with a colloquial one—far more “luck” is involved than on the multiple-choice sections. What text is used in the essay stimulus? How well will the student respond to the style and subject matter? Which of the hundreds of readers were assigned to grade the student’s essay? What other essays has the reader recently scored?

Even good writers run into the unpredictability involved and the fact that essay readers give so few high scores. A 5 means that the Readers A and B gave the essay a 2 and a 3, respectively. Which reader was “right?” If the essay had encountered two readers like Reader A, it would have received a 4. If the essay had been given two readers like Reader B, it would have received a 6. That swing makes a large difference if we judge scores exclusively by percentiles, but essay scores are simply too blurry to make such cut-and-dry distinctions. More than 80% of students receive one of three scores—4, 5, or 6 on the reading and writing dimensions and 3, 4, or 5 on analysis.

What do colleges expect?

It’s unlikely that many colleges will release a breakdown of essay scores for admitted students—especially since so few are requiring it. What we know from experience with the ACT , though, is that even at the most competitive schools in the country, the 25th–75th percentile scores of admitted students were 8–10 on the ACT’s old 2–12 score range. We expect that things will play out similarly for the SAT and that most students admitted to highly selective colleges will have domain scores in the 5–7 range (possibly closer to 4–6 for analysis). It’s even less likely for students to average a high score across all three areas than it is to obtain a single high mark. We estimate that only a fraction of a percent of students will average an 8—for example [8/8/8, 7/8/8, 8/7/8, or 8,8,7].

Update as of October 2017. The University of California system has published the 25th–75th percentile ranges for enrolled students. It has chosen to work with total scores. The highest ranges—including those at UCLA and Berkeley—are 17–20. Those scores are inline with our estimates above.

How will colleges use the domain scores?

Colleges have been given no guidance by College Board on how to use essay scores for admission. Will they sum the scores? Will they average them? Will they value certain areas over others? Chances are that if you are worrying too much about those questions, then you are likely losing sight of the bigger picture. We know of no cases where admission committees will make formulaic use of essay scores. The scores are a very small, very error-prone part of a student’s testing portfolio.

How low is too low?

Are 3s and 4s, then, low enough that an otherwise high-scoring student should retest? There is no one-size-fits-all answer to that question. In general, it is a mistake to retest solely to improve an essay score unless a student is confident that the SAT Total Score can be maintained or improved. A student with a 1340 PSAT and 1280 SAT may feel that it is worthwhile to bring up low essay scores because she has previously shown that she can do better on the Evidence-based Reading and Writing and Math, as well. A student with a 1400 PSAT and 1540 SAT should think long and hard before committing to a retest. Admission results from the class of 2017 may give us some added insight into the use of SAT Essay scores.

Will colleges continue to require the SAT Essay?

For the class of 2017, Compass has prepared a list of the SAT Essay and ACT Writing policies for 360 of the top colleges . Several of the largest and most prestigious public university systems—California, Michigan, and Texas, for example, still require the essay, and a number of highly competitive private colleges do the same—for example, Dartmouth, Harvard, Princeton, and Stanford.

The number of excellent colleges not requiring the SAT Essay, though, is long and getting longer. Compass expects even more colleges to drop the essay requirement for the classes of 2018 and 2019. Policies are typically finalized in late spring or during the summer.

Should I skip the essay entirely?

A common question regarding SAT scores is whether the whole mess can be avoided by skipping the essay. After all, if only about 10% of colleges are requiring the section, is it really that important? Despite serious misgivings about the test and the ways scores are interpreted, Compass still recommends that most students take the essay unless they are certain that they will not be applying to any of the colleges requiring or recommending it. Nationally, about 70% of students choose to take the essay on at least one SAT administration. When looking at higher scoring segments, that quickly rises to 85–90%. Almost all Compass students take the SAT Essay at least once to insure that they do not miss out on educational opportunities.

Should I prepare for the SAT Essay?

Most Compass students decide to do some preparation for the essay, because taking any part of a test “cold” can be an unpleasant experience, and students want to avoid feeling like a retake is necessary. In addition to practicing exercises and tests, most students can perform well enough on the SAT Essay after 1–2 hours of tutoring. Students taking a Compass practice SAT will also receive a scored essay. Students interested in essay writing tips for the SAT can refer to Compass blog posts on the difference between the ACT and SAT tasks  and the use of first person on the essays .

Will I be able to see my essay?

Yes. ACT makes it difficult to obtain a copy of your Writing essay, but College Board includes it as part of your online report.

Will colleges have access to my essay? Even if they don’t require it?

Yes, colleges are provided with student essays. We know of very few circumstances where SAT Essay reading is regularly conducted. Colleges that do not require the SAT Essay fall into the “consider” and “do not consider” camps. Schools do not always list this policy on their website or in their application materials, so it is hard to have a comprehensive list. We recommend contacting colleges for more information. In general, the essay will have little to no impact at colleges that do not require or recommend it.

Is the SAT Essay a reason to take the ACT instead?

Almost all colleges that require the SAT Essay require Writing for ACT-takers. The essays are very different on the two tests, but neither can be said to be universally “easier” or “harder.” Compass recommends that the primary sections of the tests determine your planning. Compass’ content experts have also written a piece on how to attack the ACT essay .

Key links in this post:

ACT and SAT essay requirements ACT Writing scores explained Comparing ACT and SAT essay tasks The use of first person in ACT and SAT essays Understanding the “audience and purpose” of the ACT essay Compass proctored practice testing for the ACT, SAT, and Subject Tests

Art Sawyer

About Art Sawyer

Art graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University, where he was the top-ranked liberal arts student in his class. Art pioneered the one-on-one approach to test prep in California in 1989 and co-founded Compass Education Group in 2004 in order to bring the best ideas and tutors into students' homes and computers. Although he has attained perfect scores on all flavors of the SAT and ACT, he is routinely beaten in backgammon.

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Hi! I’m a high school junior who took the October and November SATs. I got a 1500 on October and then retook it to get a 1590 in November. I’m very happy with my score, but my essays are troubling me. I got a 6-4-6 in October and thought I would improve in November, but I got a 6-3-6. I really cannot improve my actual SAT score, but I don’t understand the essay. I’ve always been a good writer and have consistently been praised for it in English class and outside of class. Is this essay score indicative of my writing skill? And will this essay hurt my chances at Ivy League and other top tier schools? None of the schools I plan on applying to require it, but, since I have to submit it, will it hurt my chances? Thank you so much.

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Maya, The essay is becoming increasingly irrelevant. Honestly, a 6-4-6 is a fine score and will not hurt your chances for admission. It’s something of an odd writing task, so I wouldn’t worry that it doesn’t match your writing skills elsewhere.

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essay sat scoring

What is a Good SAT Essay Score?

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Students taking the latest version of the SAT have a lot of questions about the Essay section in particular. When the College Board redesigned the SAT in 2016, the Essay section was the aspect of the test that changed most substantially.

As a result, it is the section that is least understood. Keep reading to learn how we approach setting a good target score for this often enigmatic section of the SAT.

What Is the SAT Essay?

Students taking the optional Essay section are provided with a written argument and asked to analyze it. Check out the College Board’s example prompt with sample graded responses to get a sense of what the exam looks like.

Is the SAT Essay Required?

This is the only optional section of the SAT. It does not impact your overall score out of 1600. Instead, your Essay grade stands alone on your score report.

While the College Board does not require the SAT Essay, certain schools do. 

Schools that Require the SAT Essay

  • All of the University of California schools
  • Benedictine University
  • City University London
  • Delaware State University
  • DeSales University
  • Dominican University of California
  • Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University
  • Howard University
  • John Wesley University
  • Kentucky State University
  • Martin Luther College
  • Molloy College
  • Schreiner University
  • Soka University of America
  • Southern California Institute of Architecture
  • Texas A&M University—Galveston
  • United States Military Academy (West Point)
  • University of North Texas
  • West Virginia University Institute of Technology
  • Western Carolina University

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Additionally, these schools do not require the SAT Essay but recommend it.

Schools that Recommend the SAT Essay

  • Abilene Christian University
  • Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences
  • Allegheny College
  • Amherst College
  • Art Institute of Houston
  • Augsburg University
  • Austin College
  • Caldwell University
  • California State University, Northridge
  • Central Connecticut State University
  • Central Michigan University
  • Cheyney University of Pennsylvania
  • Coastal Carolina University
  • Colby College
  • College of Wooster
  • Colorado School of Mines
  • Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art
  • Corban University
  • Cornerstone University
  • Dallas Christian College
  • Duke University
  • Eastern Illinois University
  • Eastern Nazarene College
  • Easternn University
  • Endicott College
  • Five Towns College
  • Gallaudet University
  • George Washington University
  • Georgia Highlands College
  • Greenville University
  • Gwynedd Mercy University
  • High Point University
  • Hofstra University
  • Holy Family University
  • Husson University
  • Indiana University South Bend
  • Indiana University Southeast
  • Indiana Wesleyan University
  • Inter American University of Puerto Rico: Barranquitas Campus
  • Juilliard School
  • Keiser University (West Palm Beach)
  • Lehigh University
  • Madonna University
  • Manhattan College
  • Marymount California University
  • Massachusetts Maritime Academy
  • McMurry University
  • Mercy College
  • Modern College of Design
  • Montana Tech of the University of Montana
  • Morehouse College
  • Mount Saint Mary College
  • Mount St. Joseph University
  • National-Louis University
  • New Jersey City University
  • Nichols College
  • North Park University
  • Occidental College
  • Ohio University
  • Oregon State University
  • Purdue University Northwest
  • Randall University
  • Randolph-Macon College
  • Reading Area Community College
  • Rowan University
  • Rutgers University—Camden Campus
  • Rutgers University—Newark Campus
  • Saint Michael’s College
  • Seton Hill University
  • Shiloh University
  • Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania
  • Silver Lake College of the Holy Family
  • Southern Illinois University of Carbondale
  • Southern Oregon University
  • Spring Hill College
  • Sul Ross State University
  • SUNY Farmingdale State College
  • SUNY University at Stony Brook
  • Tarleton State University
  • Texas A&M International University
  • Texas A&M University
  • Texas State University
  • The King’s College
  • United States Air Force Academy
  • University of Evansville
  • University of La Verne
  • University of Mary Hardin—Baylor
  • University of Massachusetts Amherst
  • University of Minnesota: Twin Cities
  • University of New England
  • University of Northwestern—St. Paul
  • University of the Virgin Islands
  • University of Toledo
  • University of Washington Bothell
  • VanderCook College of Music
  • Virginia Union University
  • Wabash College
  • Webb Institute
  • Webber International University
  • Wesleyan College
  • William Jewell College

Should You Take the SAT Essay Section?

We recommend taking the Essay section just in case you want to apply to one of the schools that requires or recommends it. If you’re absolutely sure you won’t apply to any of these schools, you can skip it. Just know that you can’t retake the SAT essay alone, so if you change your mind and want to apply to a school that requires the Essay section, you’ll have to retake the whole test.

How Is the SAT Essay Scored?

Your essay will be evaluated on three criteria—Reading, Analysis, and Writing.

The Reading grade is meant to gauge how well you understand the passage content. Did you absorb the information you just read? Especially when the details are not intuitive, your readers will be checking to see that you read closely and caught the nuance of the piece.

The Analysis score relates to how well you represented the argument that the writer made. Your goal in the Essay section should be to determine what the writer’s main argument is and describe how they present it. 

Finally, your score in Writing reflects your own command over the English language. Your capacity to write clear, well-structured sentences that use a wide range of vocabulary will determine this grade.

Two readers each give the essay a score between 1 and 4, depending on how well each reader thinks you did in the three categories. Their grades are then summed to give you a three-part grade. The highest grade you can receive is 8, 8, 8, while the lowest possible score is 2, 2, 2. To give an example, one student may score a 5, 4, 4, which would mean that their readers submitted the following feedback:

What’s a Good, Average, and Bad SAT Essay Score?

In 2019, the mean score on the Reading and Writing for the SAT Essay was a 5. For the Analysis section, the mean score was a little lower at 3, simply because Analysis is a skill that high school students spend less time honing than Reading or Writing.

For a detailed breakdown of how 2019’s test takers performed, here are a few score distributions:

sat essay reading score distribution chart

Here’s a rough breakdown of the percentile scores based on the most recent College Board data. Here’s how this chart works: say you scored a 6 on the Reading section. According to the data, that means that you performed better than 70% of other essay writers.

SAT Essay Score Percentile Rankings

Source: College Board and CollegeVine data analysis

How Should You Understand and Improve Your SAT Essay Score?

Unless your SAT Essay score is rock-bottom, you should not feel the need to retest just to improve your Essay score. If you received a low score that you feel isn’t representative of your writing abilities, focus on crafting stellar college essays instead of retaking the SAT just for the Essay section.

If you were unhappy with your SAT Essay score AND your overall SAT score, however, then you should consider retaking the test with the Essay section. 

Here are a few tips on how to improve your SAT Essay score:

1. Annotate the passage. Read carefully. Start by boxing the main argument of the passage, then put a star next to three or four places where the author employs a strategy to win the readers over. These may include:

  • Refuting a counter argument
  • Raising a question
  • Providing anecdotal evidence
  • Using statistics to support a claim
  • Citing historical examples
  • Employing rhetorical devices, such as metaphor

2. State the main point of the passage author. Make it clear that you understand what the author is trying to say by stating their thesis clearly in your essay response. No one reading your essay should have any doubt as to what you think the main point of the passage is.

Make the author’s thesis clear at the beginning of your response as well as in your concluding paragraph. Tie back to it often within your body paragraphs too.

3. Outline before you write. Spend 3-5 minutes organizing your thoughts. Build up 2-4 points about the argument’s structure. Think of yourself as a debate coach. Give feedback on the persuasion tactics the author used. Which ones were most effective? What could they have done to sway their audience even more?

Remembered the strategies you starred when you were annotating? These are the building blocks of the author’s argument, and your essay should provide analysis of how effectively these building blocks were used.

4. DO NOT include your personal opinion. The essay exists to assess whether you can analyze an argument. It has nothing to do with your personal views. If you find yourself defending or disagreeing with the passage, that is a good sign that you are missing a chance to analyze the argument’s structure.

5. Proofread your essay. Give yourself 2 minutes towards the end of the section to improve the language you used. Search for spelling and grammar mistakes, as well as weak word choice. Replace monosyllabic words like “good” and “is” with more dynamic vocabulary, such as “striking” or “constitutes.” This is a quick and easy way to boost your Writing score.

For more advice on how to study for the Essay section, check out our How to Get a Perfect Score on the SAT Essay and The Ultimate Guide to the New SAT Essay .

Want to know how your SAT score impacts your chances of acceptance to your dream schools? Our free Chancing Engine will not only help you predict your odds, but also let you know how you stack up against other applicants, and which aspects of your profile to improve. Sign up for your free CollegeVine account today to gain access to our Chancing Engine and get a jumpstart on your college strategy!

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SAT Essay Scoring Demystified: What You Need to Know

essay sat scoring

The SAT Essay is an optional component of the SAT that assesses a student's ability to analyze and write about a provided source text. Although the SAT Essay is optional for most colleges and universities, some schools require or recommend it, so it's essential for students to understand how the essay is scored. The SAT Essay is scored on three main criteria: Reading, Analysis, and Writing. Here's what you need to know about SAT Essay scoring:

 1. Reading:

   - The Reading score assesses how well you demonstrate comprehension of the provided source text. You'll need to show that you understand the author's argument, main ideas, and supporting evidence. Your score will be based on how well you demonstrate these skills, as well as your ability to analyze the text's rhetorical features, such as tone, word choice, and structure.

 2. Analysis:

   - The Analysis score evaluates how well you analyze the provided source text and develop your own argument. You'll need to explain how the author builds their argument, including identifying key elements such as claims, evidence, and reasoning. Your score will also depend on how effectively you support your own argument, using evidence from the text to make your case.

 3. Writing:

   - The Writing score assesses your ability to organize and express your ideas clearly and effectively. You'll need to demonstrate a strong command of language, including proper grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure. Your score will also depend on how well you use language to convey your ideas and develop your argument.

 4. Scoring Range:

   - Each of the three criteria is scored on a scale of 1 to 4 by two different graders, for a total score of 2 to 8 for each criterion. The two scores for each criterion are then added together to give you a final score for that criterion. The final SAT Essay score is the sum of the scores for each of the three criteria, ranging from 6 to 24.

 5. Scoring Rubric:

   - The College Board provides a detailed scoring rubric that outlines the specific criteria graders use to assess each of the three criteria. The rubric describes the characteristics of essays at each score level, helping you understand what graders are looking for and how you can improve your essay.

 6. Sample Essays:

   - The College Board also provides sample essays that have received different scores, along with annotations explaining why each essay received its score. These sample essays can be a valuable resource for understanding how the SAT Essay is scored and what you can do to improve your own essay.

 7. Practice:

   - The best way to improve your SAT Essay score is through practice. The more you practice writing essays, the more comfortable you'll become with the format and the better you'll understand what graders are looking for. Consider using official SAT Essay prompts, timed practice tests, and essay writing strategies to help you prepare.

 8. Time Management:

   - Remember that the SAT Essay is a timed test, so it's essential to manage your time effectively. Plan your essay before you start writing, and leave yourself enough time to revise and edit your work. Practice writing essays under timed conditions to improve your speed and pacing.

 9. Feedback and Revision:

   - After you receive your SAT Essay score, take the time to review the feedback provided by the graders. Use this feedback to identify areas for improvement and revise your essay accordingly. The ability to revise and improve your work is an essential skill that can help you succeed on the SAT Essay.

 10. Considerations:

   - Keep in mind that while the SAT Essay can be an important part of your college application, it's just one component among many. Colleges and universities consider a variety of factors when making admissions decisions, so focus on doing your best on all aspects of the SAT and your overall academic record.

By understanding how the SAT Essay is scored and practicing effectively, you can improve your performance and increase your chances of success on this important component of the SAT.

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SAT Essay Scores: How To Get A Perfect Score

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Many students ask me about SAT essay scores and request an example of an SAT essay with a perfect score.

I will share my response below and explain why this SAT essay example fulfills all the scoring requirements. There are four simple tips you can apply when completing the essay portion of the SAT that will allow you to replicate a perfect score on the SAT essay, which we will cover below!

How Are SAT Essays Scored?

student practicing sat essay

According to the College Board , SAT essays are scored using a specific process. Additionally, the College Board states that every official scorer is trained to ensure all students are held to the same exacting standards listed below.

  • Every essay will be read and scored by two different scorers.
  • The scores for each dimension from both scorers are added together
  • You will receive three separate scores—one for each of the dimensions listed above—that range from 2 to 8 points
  • The SAT Essay score will not be a composite score in which all of the scores are added together, nor are there percentiles

What Is A Perfect SAT Essay Score

Based on the criteria from above, a perfect score on the SAT essay would be three scores of 8 .

In other words, you will need to score a 4 from each scorer in each dimension.

Here’s what a perfect score on the SAT essay will look like:

SAT Essay Example Assignment & Answer

Now that we know how SAT essays are scored, let’s take a look at the example I promised to share with you earlier. Then we’ll discuss how you can earn a perfect score on your SAT essay.

Example SAT Essay Assignment:

“Is it wise to be suspicious of the motives or honesty of other people, even those who appear to be trustworthy? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.”

Example of a Perfect Scoring SAT Essay Answer:

The quagmire of whether to trust categorically or to bring skepticism into all interactions is one that has plagued mankind since inception. From one perspective, to trust is to engage in humanity; however, from another angle, humans are a self-promoting species who will advance themselves while thwarting the less shrewd, if allowed. In the end, the answer is clear and evident: as proven through examples in history, literature, and current events, it is obvious that it is always better to enter interactions with a sense of cynicism toward all others.

Historically, Abraham Lincoln was an exemplar proving that it is always best to be skeptical of the motives of others. When he called upon the know how of General William Tecumseh Sherman, he was not without his doubts as to the motives of the once-radical general.

( Filler…………..Filler……………Filler……………Doesn’t matter what you write here because the introduction and the first two sentences the second paragraph were so strong……..Filler…………Filler……….Filler )*

Hence, Lincoln was a superlative leader not only because of his political acumen, but because of his persistent doubt of the morals and morays of other people.

Even in current times, the collapse of the housing market is a supreme example outlining the necessity of doubting the motives of others. Loan officers in the late ’90s encouraged homeowners to purchase with 100% loan-to-value ration, and because homeowners were not skeptical of this proposition, they found themselves upside down owing more than their house was worth

( ………..Filler……………………… )*

The literature of Dostoevsky confirms what history and current events have suggested: it is always better to be skeptical of others as demonstrated by the character  Ivan Fyodorovich in The Brothers  Karamazov. Vanka never lets down his guard in dealing with others, and resultantly is the only truly successful and fulfilled character in the novel

The debate of whether to trust everyone until he or she errs, or to be guarded against the motives of others is not lost in history, literature, or current events. Each tells us that it is far better and even necessary to doubt the motives of our cohort

(*Note: when you read “Filler…” in the SAT essay example, I just mean to write pretty much anything that is on topic—it doesn’t matter.)

And… done. ..

4 Things You Need To Do For A Perfect SAT Essay Score

Were you able to identify any of the four characteristics that make the example assignment answer earn a perfect SAT essay score?

They might be more obvious than you think!

What Earns A Perfect SAT Essay Score?

In a nutshell…

  • A lot of writing
  • Very high-level examples
  • Clean, easy to follow logic

That’s all it takes.

That wasn’t so difficult, right?

SAT Essay Scoring FAQ

What is the most important thing to do when writing an ACT and SAT essay? Is it development, mechanics, originality or something else?

In this order:

  • You have to write legibly. If they can’t read it, you’re going to do very poorly.
  • You have to abide by the standard conventions of English. If you do not use complete sentences, if you avoid punctuation, or if you abuse capitalization or paragraph rules, you will do very poorly.
  • You must address the question. Immaculate writing that is off-topic will receive a very low score.
  • Clearly identify your points.
  • Develop your points
  • Use strong varied language
  • Use unique arguments
  • Be original

How Can I Cheat on the SAT?

I am assuming your intentions are to explore the question as an intellectual experiment, and not to actually cheat on the SAT . With that in mind, the way most people are able to cheat on the SAT is mostly through one of the following methods:

  • identity fraud
  • access to the material early (either by accident or intentionally)
  • communication during the test

I suggest reading my article, How Can I Cheat on the SAT? , for more insight on this controversial topic.

When should my student take the SAT?

Unfortunately, there is no one single answer to this question. It depends on many factors including where your student is starting out from, which school they hope to get into, and how much prep time they will need. I wrote a comprehensive guide on when to take the SAT which includes many helpful and actionable tips to help you formulate the perfect plan for SAT test prep and when the best time for your student is to take the SAT. Read When To Take The SAT: Ideal Timeline .

Can you get a good score on the SAT if you’re taking it for the first time and studied for only a month?

That depends on what your starting score is and on what you consider “good.” There are too many factors to be able to answer this with any sense of certainty.

What I can tell you is how to make sure you have the highest likelihood of the largest improvement in the time you have. The tips and test prep techniques I outline in this article will show you how to do just that.

Does “Test Optional” mean optional for me?

We are all familiar with the difference between “optional” (it makes no difference whether you do or don’t) and “ optional ” (technically you can choose this, but you probably shouldn’t).

Just because a school touts a “testing optional” policy does not mean that they want all their applicants to forgo tests. However, the answer to this question depends on some specifics that will vary among students.

Read this article to help you understand what “testing optional” really means for students like you .

Everything You Need To Know About The SAT and ACT Tests:

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Boost Your SAT Score 100 Points Or More

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Remember, the SAT essay score is only one portion of the SAT test.

(Not to mention the SAT essay is technically optional .)

Many of the Ivy League schools don’t require the essay portion of the test , although I do recommend that students still complete the essay .

While the tips we’ve just covered will help you earn higher marks on the essay, it’s even more important to study and prep for the main sections of the SAT.

Here’s why:

Getting accepted to a top-tier college or university is more competitive than ever—and along with GPA and extracurricular activities, your child’s SAT score is one of the most important factors for gaining acceptance to the Ivy Leagues or other elite schools.

It’s also the only factor that can be substantially improved in a short period of time.

At Powerful Prep, we have a proven test prep method that does just that.

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SAT Essay Score...

SAT Essay Scores: All about SAT Essay Score Range

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SAT Essay is the one which requires students to read a foundation text and then analyse how the novelist uses several techniques to build their argument. Each SAT Essay entails one passage between 650 and 750 words that students will read and then reply to. Students have 50 minutes to analyse the text and frame their responses. The SAT Essay comprises three main parts:

  •       Reading Prompt
  •       Reading Selection
  •       Essay Instruction

In 2021, College Board made SAT an optional section. It does not affect your overall score of 1600. Instead, your Essay grade stands unaccompanied on your score report. So, to know more about SAT essay score range & much more information on the same. We have curated a guide below about SAT essay scores and their importance with other general information.

SAT Essay Score Ranges: Highest, Good, and Average SAT Scores

Two scorers will assess your essay response. Each grader will allocate SAT essay score range of 1-4 in three categories: Reading, Analysis, and Writing. The highest grade you can achieve is 8 in all 3 sections, and the lowest score can be 2 for each of the three sections of the SAT Essay Paper.

·       Highest SAT Essay Score

The essay SAT score is an optional part of SAT with a self-regulating scoring system, i.e., means essay score is not involved in the total maximum SAT score of 1600. An evaluator will give you between 1 and 4 points for each section. In totality, each dimension is being scored out of 8 likely points. The 3 separate scores out of 8 points mean that the highest possible SAT essay full score is 8-8-8, or 24 total points.

·       Good SAT Essay Score

Any SAT score above the 50th SAT essay score percentiles, or median, is measured as a good result since it designates that you have done good out of the majority of students. A 50th percentile score, on the other side, will not be sufficient at most admired universities. Depending on how competitive the student pool is, the standard for a high SAT score rises meaningly. This is why it’s usually a good idea to aim for a 1200 or above score.

·       Average SAT Essay Score

There are diverse ways and parameters for calculating the average SAT Essay Scores. However, an average SAT Essay score is 14 out of 24 points for all three sections. The average SAT essay score range is 5 out of 8 for the Reading section, 3 out of 8 for the Analysis Section, and 5 out of 8 for Writing.

Suggested: Everything about SAT Exam Pattern

Why is SAT Essay Score Important?

SAT essay, however, is a completely different exercise: it's a 50-minute rhetorical analysis essay at the end of a three-hour test. According to the College Board's SAT Suite of Assessments Annual Report, 68% of students chose to take the essay. The SAT essay requires you to analyse a convincing argument. Topics for the passage can vary significantly but will always be about an argument written for an extensive audience.

 The SAT essay gives you a track to polish it. You can show off your creativity, critical thinking skills, and writing. You can also highlight the colleges where you're enthusiastic about going the extra mile.

Suggested: What Is Considered A Good SAT Score to Study Abroad?

How to Prepare for SAT Essay?

Success on the SAT score with Essay depends on preparation as well as implementation. Here are a few tips that an undergraduate student can go through to prepare well for the SAT essay score.

1.       Study Sample Passages and SAT Essay Prompts

To understand the concept of the SAT essay, go through study sample passages to get high scores in each of the scoring sections, and take time to analyse example SAT essay prompts. As you go through each of the example passages and consistent responses, study how and why the author used to sign, reasoning, and stylistic or persuasive elements.

2.       Understand the SAT Essay Scoring System

Two readers will score your Essay distinctly and allocate a score of 1 to 4 for each of the 3 sections that include reading, analysis, and writing. Your analysis score will imitate how well your essay analyses how the author went about urging the audience. Also, SAT essay score reports offer these three distinct scores, each on a 2 to 8 scale.

3.       Begin with an Outline

An outline helps you plan your writing by giving you a clear logic of direction when transitioning from one point to the next. Planning out your method for an introduction, body, and conclusion when the content is fresh in your mind will safeguard that you don't reach the end of your answer with blocks in your argument.

4.       Make Time for Edits

After making all the approaches and figuring out how to write SAT essay, aim to take out some time in the end for review. In doing so, you may catch misunderstood information or find other ways to extra build on the points you made in your response.

Suggested: SAT Preparation Books to Ace Your Score

The choice is eventually yours to take SAT essay or not, but there are pros to taking the SAT with Essay even if a college or university you're interested in doesn't require it. A clear profit would be that it opens up your possible college choices, regardless of what you've decided on presently. Besides, if you want to know about SAT Score and other information, connect with our Yocket Counsellors and get 15 min free consultation to clear your queries efficiently.

Frequently Asked Questions about SAT Essay Score

What is a good score on SAT essay?

A good SAT essay score would be three 8's; that's a 4 from both graders in all three categories.

Which colleges abroad require SAT Essay?

There are some colleges abroad where SAT essay is required: 1) Benedictine University 2) City University London 3) Delaware State University 4) University of North Texas 5) Dominican University of California 6) DeSales University 7) Western Carolina University 8) Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University

Is the SAT Essay mandatory?

In June 2021, the College Board chose to discontinue the SAT essay. Now, only students in a few states and school regions still have access to and must complete the SAT essay. This obligation applies to some students in the SAT School Day program.

Is 22 a good SAT essay score?

If you can achieve above 22 out of 24, it is the highest SAT score.

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SAT Essay Samples | Low vs High-Scoring Examples

The SAT Essay is often used as an extra way to impress admissions officers with your overall academic preparedness. But what does a good essay look like vs a bad one? To make life easier, the College Board has provided some helpful SAT essay samples that you can study over.

Besides helping you get into college, here are a number of other SAT Essay benefits to consider .

SAT Essay Samples Prompt

Expect to see prompt directions like the ones below:

“As you read the passage below, consider how Paul Bogard uses:

  • evidence, such as facts or examples, to support claims.
  • reasoning to develop ideas and to connect claims and evidence.
  • stylistic or persuasive elements, such as word choice or appeals to emotion, to add power to the ideas expressed.”

SAT Essay Samples Passage

“ Adapted from Paul Bogard, “Let There Be Dark.” ©2012 by Los Angeles Times. Originally published December 21, 2012.

At my family’s cabin on a Minnesota lake, I knew woods so dark that my hands disappeared before my eyes. I knew night skies in which meteors left smoky trails across sugary spreads of stars. But now, when 8 of 10 children born in the United States will never know a sky dark enough for the Milky Way, I worry we are rapidly losing night’s natural darkness before realizing its worth. This winter solstice, as we cheer the days’ gradual movement back toward light, let us also remember the irreplaceable value of darkness.

All life evolved to the steady rhythm of bright days and dark nights. Today, though, when we feel the closeness of nightfall, we reach quickly for a light switch. And too little darkness, meaning too much artificial light at night, spells trouble for all.

Already the World Health Organization classifies working the night shift as a probable human carcinogen, and the American Medical Association has voiced its unanimous support for “light pollution reduction efforts and glare reduction efforts at both the national and state levels.” Our bodies need darkness to produce the hormone melatonin, which keeps certain cancers from developing, and our bodies need darkness for sleep. Sleep disorders have been linked to diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease and depression, and recent research suggests one main cause of “short sleep” is “long light.” Whether we work at night or simply take our tablets, notebooks and smartphones to bed, there isn’t a place for this much artificial light in our lives.

The rest of the world depends on darkness as well, including nocturnal and crepuscular species of birds, insects, mammals, fish and reptiles. Some examples are well known—the 400 species of birds that migrate at night in North America, the sea turtles that come ashore to lay their eggs—and some are not, such as the bats that save American farmers billions in pest control and the moths that pollinate 80% of the world’s flora. Ecological light pollution is like the bulldozer of the night, wrecking habitat and disrupting ecosystems several billion years in the making. Simply put, without darkness, Earth’s ecology would collapse…

In today’s crowded, louder, more fast-paced world, night’s darkness can provide solitude, quiet and stillness, qualities increasingly in short supply. Every religious tradition has considered darkness invaluable for a soulful life, and the chance to witness the universe has inspired artists, philosophers and everyday stargazers since time began. In a world awash with electric light…how would Van Gogh have given the world his “Starry Night”? Who knows what this vision of the night sky might inspire in each of us, in our children or grandchildren?

Yet all over the world, our nights are growing brighter. In the United States and Western Europe, the amount of light in the sky increases an average of about 6% every year. Computer images of the United States at night, based on NASA photographs, show that what was a very dark country as recently as the 1950s is now nearly covered with a blanket of light. Much of this light is wasted energy, which means wasted dollars. Those of us over 35 are perhaps among the last generation to have known truly dark nights. Even the northern lake where I was lucky to spend my summers has seen its darkness diminish.

It doesn’t have to be this way. Light pollution is readily within our ability to solve, using new lighting technologies and shielding existing lights. Already, many cities and towns across North America and Europe are changing to LED streetlights, which offer dramatic possibilities for controlling wasted light. Other communities are finding success with simply turning off portions of their public lighting after midnight. Even Paris, the famed “city of light,” which already turns off its monument lighting after 1 a.m., will this summer start to require its shops, offices and public buildings to turn off lights after 2 a.m. Though primarily designed to save energy, such reductions in light will also go far in addressing light pollution. But we will never truly address the problem of light pollution until we become aware of the irreplaceable value and beauty of the darkness we are losing.”

SAT Essay Samples Directions

Here is how the essay directions will be worded format-wise on test day.

“Write an essay in which you explain how Paul Bogard builds an argument to persuade his audience that natural darkness should be preserved. In your essay, analyze how Bogard uses one or more of the features in the directions that precede the passage (or features of your own choice) to strengthen the logic and persuasiveness of his argument. Be sure that your analysis focuses on the most relevant features of the passage.

Your essay should not explain whether you agree with Bogard’s claims, but rather explain how Bogard builds an argument to persuade his audience.”

Essay Sample Response (Low Scoring)

“In “Let there be dark,” Paul Bogard talks about the importance of darkness.

Darkness is essential to humans. Bogard states, “Our bodies need darkness to produce the hormone melatonin, which keeps certain cancers from developing, and our bodies need darkness for sleep, sleep. Sleep disorders have been linked to diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease and depression and recent research suggests are main cause of “short sleep” is “long light.” Whether we work at night or simply take our tablets, notebooks and smartphones to bed, there isn’t a place for this much artificial light in our lives.” (Bogard 2). Here, Bogard talks about the importance of darkness to humans. Humans need darkness to sleep in order to be healthy.

Animals also need darkness. Bogard states, “The rest of the world depends on darkness as well, including nocturnal and crepuscular species of birds, insects, mammals, fish and reptiles. Some examples are well known—the 400 species of birds that migrate at night in North America, the sea turtles that come ashore to lay their eggs—and some are not, such as the bats that save American farmers billions in pest control and the moths that pollinate 80% of the world’s flora. Ecological light pollution is like the bulldozer of the night, wrecking habitat and disrupting ecosystems several billion years in the making. Simply put, without darkness, Earth’s ecology would collapse…” (Bogard 2). Here Bogard explains that animals, too, need darkness to survive.”

Essay Sample Response (High Scoring)

“In response to our world’s growing reliance on artificial light, writer Paul Bogard argues that natural darkness should be preserved in his article “Let There be dark”. He effectively builds his argument by using a personal anecdote, allusions to art and history, and rhetorical questions.

Bogard starts his article off by recounting a personal story – a summer spent on a Minnesota lake where there was “woods so dark that [his] hands disappeared before [his] eyes.” In telling this brief anecdote, Bogard challenges the audience to remember a time where they could fully amass themselves in natural darkness void of artificial light. By drawing in his readers with a personal encounter about night darkness, the author means to establish the potential for beauty, glamour, and awe-inspiring mystery that genuine darkness can possess. He builds his argument for the preservation of natural darkness by reminiscing for his readers a first-hand encounter that proves the “irreplaceable value of darkness.” This anecdote provides a baseline of sorts for readers to find credence with the author’s claims.

Bogard’s argument is also furthered by his use of allusion to art – Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” – and modern history – Paris’ reputation as “The City of Light”. By first referencing “Starry Night”, a painting generally considered to be undoubtedly beautiful, Bogard establishes that the natural magnificence of stars in a dark sky is definite. A world absent of excess artificial light could potentially hold the key to a grand, glorious night sky like Van Gogh’s according to the writer. This urges the readers to weigh the disadvantages of our world consumed by unnatural, vapid lighting. Furthermore, Bogard’s alludes to Paris as “the famed ‘city of light’”. He then goes on to state how Paris has taken steps to exercise more sustainable lighting practices. By doing this, Bogard creates a dichotomy between Paris’ traditionally alluded-to name and the reality of what Paris is becoming – no longer “the city of light”, but more so “the city of light…before 2 AM”. This furthers his line of argumentation because it shows how steps can be and are being taken to preserve natural darkness. It shows that even a city that is literally famous for being constantly lit can practically address light pollution in a manner that preserves the beauty of both the city itself and the universe as a whole.

Finally, Bogard makes subtle yet efficient use of rhetorical questioning to persuade his audience that natural darkness preservation is essential. He asks the readers to consider “what the vision of the night sky might inspire in each of us, in our children or grandchildren?” in a way that brutally plays to each of our emotions. By asking this question, Bogard draws out heartfelt ponderance from his readers about the affecting power of an untainted night sky. This rhetorical question tugs at the readers’ heartstrings; while the reader may have seen an unobscured night skyline before, the possibility that their child or grandchild will never get the chance sways them to see as Bogard sees. This strategy is definitively an appeal to pathos, forcing the audience to directly face an emotionally-charged inquiry that will surely spur some kind of response. By doing this, Bogard develops his argument, adding guttural power to the idea that the issue of maintaining natural darkness is relevant and multifaceted.

Writing as a reaction to his disappointment that artificial light has largely permeated the presence of natural darkness, Paul Bogard argues that we must preserve true, unaffected darkness. He builds this claim by making use of a personal anecdote, allusions, and rhetorical questioning.”

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Sat® score calculator.

  • The Albert Team
  • Last Updated On: February 8, 2024

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Are you preparing for the SAT® exam and curious about your potential score? You’ve come to the right place! With this interactive SAT® score calculator, you can predict how your raw score translates to your SAT® score to answer the common question, “Is my SAT® score good enough?”

Educators : Albert offers free trials to all qualified schools and districts!

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Looking for SAT® study materials for the new digital format?

If you’re looking for free help as you start your SAT® prep, be sure to explore our SAT® sections for more review articles ( Math , Reading , Writing ) .

What is the Digital SAT®? When is the SAT® going digital?

The Digital SAT® represents a significant evolution in how the College Board administers and scores the SAT®. Starting in Spring 2024, this new format leverages the benefits of digital testing and adaptivity to better assess a student’s capabilities. Here’s what you need to know about the upcoming test format:

Reading and Writing Modules:

  • Module 1: You will answer 27 questions; your raw score will be the number of correct answers.
  • Adaptive Component: Your performance in Module 1 influences the difficulty of the questions in Reading and Writing Module 2, which also contains 27 questions. Your raw score here again depends on the number of correct answers.
  • Scoring: The raw scores from both modules are combined and converted to your Evidence-Based Reading and Writing Section Score, ranging from 200 to 800.

Math Modules:

  • Module 1: This section includes 22 questions, with your raw score reflecting the number of correct answers.
  • Adaptive Component: As with reading and writing, your performance in Math Module 1 determines the question set in Math Module 2, which also has 22 questions. Your raw score is based on correct answers.
  • Scoring: The raw scores from both Math modules are combined and converted into your Math Section Score, ranging from 200 to 800.

Revised SAT® Score Calculation:

With the introduction of the Digital SAT®, the calculation of scores will adapt to the new format:

  • Reading and Writing: The raw scores from both Reading and Writing modules are added and converted to the section score.
  • Math: Similarly, the raw scores from both Math modules are totaled and then converted to the section score.

The total SAT® score will still range from 400 to 1600, combining the Reading and Writing and Math Section Scores.

What’s the difference between SAT® raw scores and SAT® scale scores? How do they calculate each ?

Raw Scores: These are simply the number of questions you answer correctly across the modules. There is no penalty for guessing, so your raw score is the total count of correct responses.

Scale Scores: The raw scores are then converted to scale scores for each section. These are between 200-800 for the two sections, to give you a total SAT® score between 400-1600. 

Understanding Raw Scores and Scale Scores in the Digital SAT®

In the digital format, this conversion will consider the adaptive nature of the test, ensuring that scores are comparable across different test forms and difficulty levels.

The new Digital SAT® is adaptive. This means that the difficulty of the questions in the second module will be based on your performance in the first module. This ensures a more personalized test experience and allows for a precise measurement of your skills and knowledge.

As we prepare for the launch of the Digital SAT®, we’ve updated our SAT® score calculator to reflect these changes. This tool is an invaluable resource for assessing students’ readiness and predicting their potential performance.

What is a good SAT® score? Decent score? Bad score?

A good SAT® score really depends on the student and their aspirations. For example, if you’re applying to Harvard and have a 1200 SAT® score, it’s unlikely you’ll get in since Harvard’s average score is typically over 1500. However, i f you’re applying to Michigan State University with that same score, that would be competitive for your college application. 

Generally, anything that falls into the top 30% of graduating high school students should be considered a good SAT® score. When you review the 2019 SAT® score trends , you see the nationally representative sample average SAT® score is 1120. The 70th percentile SAT® test taker is 1170. 

The former number compares how students did on the SAT® to an overall sample of all students grades 11-12, regardless of whether or not they took the SAT®. The latter number applies the actual scores of students in the past three graduating classes to the latest SAT®. 

A decent SAT® score would probably be something around the 50th percentile. Using the nationally representative sample, you’d find this to be a 1010. Looking at just SAT® test takers, the 50th percentile SAT® score is between 1050 and 1060. 

A bad SAT® score is quite subjective. But, i f you were looking at it from a percentiles standpoint, it could be any score below the 25th percentile. Looking at the nationally representative sample, this is between 870 and 880. For just SAT® test takers, it’d be a 910. 

Is 1600 a good SAT® score?

Yes! 1600 is not just a good SAT® score; it’s a perfect SAT® score. Like the ACT®, depending on the particular test, there is sometimes leeway on getting a perfect SAT® score. In other words, there are edge cases where you may be able to get one Reading question wrong and still get an 800 for your section score. 

How hard is it to get a 1400 on the SAT®?

It can be pretty tough to score a 1400 on the SAT®. Scoring a 1400 means you’re in the 97th percentile for the nationally representative sample and the 94th percentile among SAT® takers.

Furthermore, if you were to assume you wanted to score a 700 in both sections and you play around with the score calculator above, you’d see that to score a 700 in math, you can only miss around eight questions on average. 

Then, to score a 700 in Evidence-Based Reading and Writing, you’d only be able to miss around eight questions in SAT® Reading and five questions in SAT® Writing. 

Is 1200 a good SAT® score?

A 1200 is a good SAT® score. Reviewing the 2019 SAT® score trends, you’ll see that 1200 equates to the 81st percentile for the nationally representative sample and the 74th percentile for SAT® test takers. This means scoring 1200 on the SAT® puts you in the top quartile of high school students taking the test. 

What is the average SAT® score?

The average SAT® score is typically between 1010 and 1060. This is pulled from the SAT® score trend data in which the 50th percentile for the nationally representative sample was a 1010, and among SAT® test takers, the 50th percentile fell between a 1050 and 1060.

Why is the SAT® exam curved?

The SAT® exam itself is not curved relative to test takers. That being said, the College Board does put each test through a process referred to as equating. This process ensures no student receives an advantage or disadvantage from taking a particular for on the SAT® on a particular day. 

In other words, it ensures a test score of 500 equals a test score 500 on an SAT® from another day. 

The equating process is also why you’ll notice that when you use our SAT® score calculator, there are sometimes variances in how you might have scored on one practice test versus another. There can be cases, for instance, where getting a perfect score in Math was necessary for an 800, while you could get one question wrong in another. 

How do I read my SAT® Score Report?

The College Board provides a helpful short video on how to understand your SAT® score report here .

The first step is navigating to studentscores.collegeboard.org . 

Upon logging in, you’ll see your total SAT® score, which combines your Evidence-Based Reading and Writing Section and Math Section score. 

In your SAT® Score Report, you’ll also find specifics on your test scores (number correct and incorrect in each section), cross-test scores (how you analyze texts and solve problems that are interdisciplinary with Science and History) and subscores (how you performed on specific key concepts). 

These sections will be color coded so you know exactly where you need to improve. 

If you took the essay, you’ll see how you did on reading, writing, and analysis. 

If you prefer not to watch a video on this, you can review the College Board’s PDF resource on reading SAT® Score Reports here .

Why should I use this SAT® score calculator?

Albert’s SAT® score calculator is crafted to align with the latest official practice test curves provided by the College Board. This ensures our calculations are as accurate and current as possible. With the new Digital SAT® format launching in 2024, our calculator is updated to reflect these changes and provide you with reliable score estimates.

We developed this SAT® score calculator to go beyond the static tables typically used by others. Our interactive tool, complete with sliders, offers a more dynamic and engaging way to visualize your scoring potential. It’s not just about crunching numbers; it’s about providing a motivational and insightful experience to help you identify where you can make the most impactful improvements in your SAT® preparation. With our calculator, you can experiment with different scenarios and see how changes in each section could elevate your overall score to meet your SAT® aspirations.

How do you figure out your SAT® superscore?

To figure out your SAT® superscore, you’ll need to first compile all of the test days you took the SAT®. Next, look for your highest scores for SAT® Evidence-Based Reading and SAT® Math.

So for example, if you got a 700 on one SAT® Math test, and a 750 on another, you’d choose the 750.

Finally, total your highest scores — this is your SAT® superscore.  

Looking for extra SAT® practice?

Albert provides hundreds of SAT® practice questions with detailed explanations and full-length practice tests. We have subjects for the traditional SAT® and the new digital format coming out in spring 2024.

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Baltimore Sun

The SAT is being overhauled this spring. Here’s what Maryland students, parents need to know.

T he format of the SAT, a standardized test to determine high schoolers’ college readiness, is changing to a digital format this spring as colleges start to make standardized tests optional for admissions.

The new format will allow students to get scores back in days instead of weeks, College Board, the nonprofit behind the test, said in January 2022 a news release.

“The digital SAT will be easier to take, easier to give, and more relevant,” said Priscilla Rodriguez, vice president of college readiness assessments at College Board, in the release. “We’re not simply putting the current SAT on a digital platform — we’re taking full advantage of what delivering an assessment digitally makes possible.”

Here’s what Maryland students and parents need to know about the change.

What will be different?

The digital SAT will be two hours instead of three, leaving more time per question, College Board said. This format will also only have two sections by combining reading and writing, in addition to math.

The transition will lead to “assessment questions that are tailored to students’ ability, thus providing a more precise performance measurement,” Maryland State Department of Education spokesperson Raven Hill said.

The test will have shorter reading passages with a question for each, covering topics representative of college coursework.

Students will now be allowed calculators for the entire math section, as opposed to for one timed portion and only a pencil and paper for another. Test-takers can use use their own approved calculators or the Desmos graphing calculator built directly into Bluebook, College Board’s new digital testing app. The change is intended to reflect how calculators are used in the real world, the nonprofit said.

Starting this month, a digital option will also be available for the ACT at select locations nationwide, but the timing and number of questions haven’t changed.

What resources do students have?

The first SAT of the year is March 9 with a base price of $60. In March, there will be 63 testing sites in Maryland, according to College Board.

Baltimore County, Baltimore City and Anne Arundel County public schools allow juniors take the test for free on an SAT day in the spring, which haven’t been announced yet.

“School Day is an important driver of access and equity and has been shown to lead to higher college-going rates for low-income and rural students,” College Board said.

Its website offers downloadable SAT prep books that include practice tests, strategies and content review.

What about the PSAT?

The preliminary SAT has moved to a digital format as well. This practice test mimics the SAT with reading/writing and math sections, and is about the same length, according to College Board’s website.

“Understanding the relationship between PSAT scores and SAT performance, as well as exploring additional resources for SAT preparation, is crucial for students aiming to excel in the college admissions process,” said Sherry Christian, a Baltimore City Public School System spokesperson.

Taking the PSAT qualifies students for the National Merit Scholarship program, a $2,500 scholarship. Students don’t register for the PSAT, but individual schools and districts choose if they will offer it.

Eighth and ninth grade students can also take PSAT 8/9 as a preliminary measure of readiness for future tests.

“The PSAT can be helpful in determining what score you may receive for the SAT while providing extra practice,” said Audrey McQueen, a 12th grader at Reservoir High School. “However, the PSAT is irrelevant to those who don’t need to take the SAT for their post-high-school plans.”

Do the SAT and ACT still matter?

Some universities require students to submit SAT and ACT scores with their application packages, but others, such as those in the University System of Maryland, have made it optional.

The USM removed the requirement in 2022. During the Board of Regents meeting in which the university system passed the change, Darryll Pines, president of the University of Maryland, College Park, said standardized testing has a long history of being problematic for minority communities.

“Persons of color tend to have biases against them by these tests, and they don’t get into schools,” Pines said at the time.

UMD, along with the University of Maryland, Baltimore County; Towson University; and the University of Baltimore, had already been test-optional for several years.

“Each institution assesses its admission requirements consistent with its mission and programs and alongside its student success data,” USM said in an emailed statement. “And of course, it is not just recent high school graduates who are applicants. The SAT is not necessarily appropriate for all applicant audiences. It was designed with recent high school graduates in mind.”

The system hasn’t been able to see the full impact of the change yet.

“We have not yet had a full cohort go through to see if there has been any impact on graduation rates,” USM said. “Institutions will review their data and determine what the right course of action is for their students and university.”

Local schools such as Anne Arundel Community College, the Community College of Baltimore County and Mount St. Mary’s University have also made the test optional for admissions.

What do students think?

McQueen says the SAT isn’t a good representation of a student’s college readiness, and work and volunteer experience and letters of recommendation should hold more weight.

“It is unfair to base a student off of one test score in order to decide if they are ready for college or if they are a good fit for that school,” she said.

In 2021, College Board email surveyed more than 5,000 students, including those who took the SAT and those who hadn’t yet.

The organization reported that more than 80% of students wanted the option to submit scores to colleges, allowing them to be seen by schools regardless of their grade point averages.

“Most students want to take the SAT, find out how they did, and then decide whether they want to submit their scores to colleges,” College Board said in a statement. “This finding remains consistent whether or not students have taken the SAT and across race/ethnicity and parents’ level of education. That is because the SAT allows students — regardless of where they go to high school — to be seen by colleges and scholarship providers.”

McQueen said the new digital format has changed the importance of the test but has made it harder for students to take.

“I took the SAT last year, and I enjoy taking tests on paper as it allows me to underline, circle, and cross out answers,” she said. “I’m also able to focus more as it’s on paper. It’s also important to mention that we already have enough forced screentime as it is, with most of our classwork being online.”

©2024 Baltimore Sun. Visit baltimoresun.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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How are computers scoring STAAR essays? Texas superintendents, lawmaker want answers

Educators and legislators are concerned about transparency and a spike in high schoolers scoring zero points on written answers..

Texas superintendents want answers from the state education commissioner Mike Morath about...

By Talia Richman

11:10 AM on Feb 15, 2024 CST — Updated at 8:00 PM on Feb 15, 2024 CST

Texas superintendents — and at least one lawmaker — want answers from the state education commissioner about how computers are scoring STAAR essays.

The Texas Education Agency quietly debuted a new system for examining student answers on the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, or STAAR, in December . Roughly three-quarters of written responses are scored by a computer rather than a person.

“This is surprising news to me as a member of the House Public Education Committee, as I do not recall ever receiving notice of this novel and experimental method for grading high-stakes, STAAR tests,” Rep. Gina Hinojosa, D-Austin, wrote in a recent letter to Commissioner Mike Morath, which was also shared with The Dallas Morning News .

Superintendents across the state also were caught off guard until recently. Many school districts already are suing the state over changes to the academic accountability system that’s largely based on STAAR performance.

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Related: Computers scoring Texas students’ STAAR essay answers, state officials say

The News reported on the rollout of computer scoring Wednesday.

The use of computers to score essays “was never communicated to school districts; yet this seems to be an unprecedented change that a ‘heads up’ would be reasonably warranted,” HD Chambers, director of the Texas School Alliance, wrote to Morath in a letter shared with The News .

TEA spokesman Jake Kobersky said in a statement that the agency is developing a comprehensive presentation for educators, explaining the changes in detail and addressing outstanding questions.

He added that the agency alerted the House Public Education Committee in August 2022 that it was pursuing automated scoring.

The final bulletpoint on an 18-page slideshow read: “TEA is pursuing automation for scoring where appropriate to reduce costs while ensuring reliability. Full human scoring is not possible under item-level computer-adaptive (B), and full human scoring with no automation under the current system would require at least $15-20M more per year.”

The new scoring method rolled out amid a broader STAAR redesign. The revamped test — which launched last year — has a cap on multiple choice questions and essays at every grade level. State officials say it would cost millions more to have only humans score the test.

The “automated scoring engines” are programmed to emulate how humans would assess an essay, and they don’t learn beyond a single question. The computer determines how to score written answers after analyzing thousands of students’ responses that were previously scored by people.

Among the district leaders’ biggest concerns is a huge spike in low scores among high schoolers under the new system.

Roughly eight in 10 written responses on the most recent English II End of Course exam received zero points this fall.

For the spring test — the first iteration of the redesigned test, but scored only by humans — roughly a quarter of responses scored zero points in the same subject.

Members of the Texas School Alliance , which represents 46 districts, “examined their individual district results and found shockingly consistent scoring differences.”

Chris Rozunick, the director of the state’s assessment development division, previously told The News that she understands why people connect the spike in zeroes to the rollout of automated scoring based on the timing. But she insists that the two are unrelated.

Many students who take STAAR in the fall are “re-testers” who did not meet grade level on a previous test attempt. Spring testers tend to perform better, according to agency officials who were asked to explain the spike in low scores in the fall.

“It really is the population of testers much more than anything else,” Rozunick said.

Kobersky added that, under the previous STAAR design, a score of zero was reserved for “unscorable responses,” meaning the question was left blank or written in a nonsensical way. The redesigned test rubric allows for a zero both if a response is unscorable or if it’s the value of the response as determined by the scorer, he said.

Some district leaders requested the state education agency provide them images of students’ responses so that they could “better understand what led to the significant increase in the number of zeroes, and most importantly how to help students write their responses” to receive better scores.

“Each request has been denied,” Chambers wrote in his letter to Morath.

Kobersky said fall questions are not released because they can be reused for other tests.

TEA officials say a technical report, with a detailed overview of the system, will be available later this year.

STAAR scores are of tremendous importance to district leaders, families and communities. Schools are graded on the state’s academic accountability system largely based on how students perform on these standardized tests.

Related: What are Texas’ A-F school grades, and why do they matter?

“As with all aspects of the STAAR test and the A-F accountability system, it is important that there is transparency, accuracy and fairness in these high-stakes results,” Hinojosa wrote.

The DMN Education Lab deepens the coverage and conversation about urgent education issues critical to the future of North Texas.

The DMN Education Lab is a community-funded journalism initiative, with support from Bobby and Lottye Lyle, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, Garrett and Cecilia Boone, The Meadows Foundation, The Murrell Foundation, Solutions Journalism Network, Southern Methodist University, Sydney Smith Hicks and the University of Texas at Dallas. The Dallas Morning News retains full editorial control of the Education Lab’s journalism.

Talia Richman

Talia Richman , Staff writer . Talia is a reporter for The Dallas Morning News Education Lab. A Dallas native, she attended Richardson High School and graduated from the University of Maryland. She previously covered schools and City Hall for The Baltimore Sun.

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This north texan has seen 20 total solar eclipses. the next one is coming to her, saddle up: 2024 mlb amateur draft is headed to the fort worth stockyards, record-high heat expected in dallas-fort worth on monday. here’s the forecast, do parking minimums drive up housing costs.

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Yale to Require Standardized Test Scores for Admissions

Officials said test-optional policies might have harmed students from lower-income families.

essay sat scoring

By Stephanie Saul

Yale University will require standardized test scores for students applying for the class entering in the fall of 2025, becoming the second Ivy League university to abandon test-optional policies that had been widely embraced during the Covid pandemic.

Yale officials said in an announcement on Thursday that the shift to test-optional policies might have unwittingly harmed students from lower-income families whose test scores could have helped their chances.

While it will require standardized tests, Yale said its policy would be “test flexible,” permitting students to submit scores from subject-based Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate tests in lieu of SAT or ACT scores.

Yale’s decision, which will not affect students who applied during the current admissions cycle, followed a similar decision in February from Dartmouth College. Dartmouth, in Hanover, N.H., said an analysis had found that hundreds of students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds who had solid scores — in the 1,400 range on the SAT — had declined to submit them, fearing that they fell too far below the perfect 1,600. In 2022, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology announced that it had reinstated its testing requirement.

These institutions remain in the minority. Many decided to keep their test optional policies in place as the pandemic waned. Columbia announced last year it is test optional, and Harvard has said it is test optional through the class that will graduate in 2030.

The California university system has enacted a “test-blind” policy, meaning they will not look at scores, even if they are submitted.

The University of Michigan, one of the country’s most selective public universities, announced on Wednesday that it was moving to a test-optional policy, which it said was a move to “providing access to high-achieving students from all backgrounds.” Michigan had previously used a test-flexible policy.

More than 80 percent of four-year colleges — or at least 1,825 of the nation’s institutions that grant bachelor degrees — will not require SAT or ACT scores this fall, according to the organization FairTest, which has fought against standardized testing. In 2022, the number of students taking the SAT dropped to 1.7 million, a decline from 2.2 million in 2020.

The anti-testing movement has long said that standardized tests help fuel inequality, because many students from affluent families use tutors and coaches to bolster their scores.

But recent research has questioned whether test-optional policies may actually hurt the very students they were meant to help.

In January, Opportunity Insights, a group of economists based at Harvard, published a study that found that test scores could help identify lower-income students and students from underrepresented populations who would thrive in college. High scores from less privileged students can signal high potential.

Yale, in New Haven, Conn., said that test scores were particularly valuable in evaluating students who attend high schools with fewer academic resources or college preparatory courses.

Jeremiah Quinlan, the dean of undergraduate admissions at Yale, said in a statement that the university had determined that test scores, while imperfect, were predictive of academic success in college.

“Simply put,” he said, “students with higher scores have been more likely to have higher Yale G.P.A.s, and test scores are the single greatest predictor of a student’s performance in Yale courses in every model we have constructed.”

When students do not submit test scores, the admissions committee focuses on other elements of the student’s file, Mr. Quinlan said.

“For students attending well-resourced high schools, substitutes for standardized tests are relatively easy to find: Transcripts brim with advanced courses, teachers are accustomed to praising students’ unique classroom contributions, and activities lists are full of enrichment opportunities,” he said in the statement. “Increased emphasis on these elements, we found, has the effect of advantaging the advantaged.”

After the Supreme Court’s decision last year banning race-conscious admissions, many experts predicted that some schools would use test-optional policies to protect themselves from future litigation. In the cases against Harvard and the University of North Carolina, standardized test scores were used to show disparate admissions treatment for some ethnic and racial groups.

In an interview, Mr. Quinlan said Yale took that into account in its decision over whether to reinstate test requirements.

“I think we’re pretty confident that we can still run a pretty thoughtful and legal admissions process with this policy,” Mr. Quinlan said. “We couldn’t let that legal concern, or let potential litigation, impact this important decision.”

In making its announcement, Yale released the middle range of SAT and ACT scores of its 2020 first-year class. Since Yale instituted a test-optional policy, the university said that roughly half its applicants had not submitted SAT or ACT scores.

Applications to Yale and other highly selective schools have spiked as a result of test optional policies. Yale, which has an acceptance rate of about 4 percent, said recently that it had received over 57,000 applications for this fall’s admission, a record number and an increase of about 20,000 since 2019 , before the pandemic. The increase included a huge number of international students, Mr. Quinlan said.

“The quality and quantity were not increasing in lock step,” Mr. Quinlan said.

Bob Schaeffer, public education director of FairTest, downplayed the potential impact of Yale’s move. “Since an overwhelming percentage of future Yale applicants will have taken Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate exams, which have long been a factor in admissions at super-selective institutions, the impact will not be very significant,” he said.

He did, however, think the new policy could create a barrier to international students, some of whom have complained about limited access to standardized tests.

“I think it’s safe to say we will see some decrease moving forward,” Mr. Quinlan said. “We don’t want more applications. We want the right applications.”

Stephanie Saul reports on colleges and universities, with a recent focus on the dramatic changes in college admissions and the debate around diversity, equity and inclusion in higher education. More about Stephanie Saul

Yale will again require standardized test scores for admission

After many colleges went test optional in the pandemic, the debate is reigniting about the role of testing in admissions.

essay sat scoring

Yale University will again require students to submit standardized test scores when they apply for admission, school officials said Thursday . The change comes after officials found that the scores were the single best predictor of students’ academic performance and that not considering them could be a disadvantage for those who have already faced daunting challenges.

The decision — which includes greater flexibility for applicants by allowing more types of tests — is likely to be closely watched not only by students aspiring to highly selective colleges and agonizing over test scores and other metrics, but also by other universities evaluating their own policies in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. The change will go into effect for first-year and transfer applicants for fall 2025 admission.

The switch comes after another Ivy League institution, Dartmouth College , announced earlier this month that it would require SAT and ACT scores again.

For generations, tests such as the SAT have been a mandatory rite of passage for ambitious students, spawning a whole industry of test-prep classes, books and tutors.

Before the pandemic, there had been growing concern that the standardized tests at best reflected inequities in society, and at worse amplified them, said David Hawkins, chief education and policy officer for the National Association for College Admission Counseling, and a movement toward test-optional policies. With the pandemic, many colleges dropped requirements that applicants submit standardized test scores “because the infrastructure for testing evaporated overnight,” he said.

With debate over the value of those tests — including criticism that they provided another barrier to disadvantaged students — many schools continued their test-optional policies even as the public health crisis eased.

The test-optional movement meant even students applying to ultracompetitive schools could skip the exams altogether, or hold back their scores if they thought they would hurt their chance at admission. (It was easy to see how their own scores tracked with current students, with a simple online search.)

At many schools, the number of applicants rose dramatically after the test requirements were dropped.

Now schools across the country are trying to figure out what to do next.

Those test-optional years provided a chance for schools to examine the impact of the change, and many have not announced final decisions about what their policies will be.

A few have: The University of California system in 2020 instituted a test-free policy — eliminating any consideration of tests for admissions. MIT reinstated test requirements in 2022. The University of Tennessee System now requires scores from first-year applicants.

And on Wednesday, the University of Michigan announced its undergraduate admissions would be test-optional for future terms.

The College Board, which administers the SAT, reported in September that more than 1.9 million high school students who graduated last spring had taken the exam, an increase from 1.7 million in 2022.

“The vast majority of the college-admissions world is going to remain test-optional,” said Harry Feder, the executive director of FairTest, which opposes the SAT and ACT — by their count, more than 80 percent of four-year colleges would not require those scores for admission in the fall of 2025. He said most schools are finding they’re getting more applicants and more diversity when they don’t require the scores.

Feder said he preferred Yale’s more flexible policy to Dartmouth’s, because requiring the SAT or ACT will shut out more socioeconomically disadvantaged students who simply won’t apply.

Every institution needs to make its own decision, Hawkins said. “I don’t think there’s a clear trend line yet,” he said. “I think we are still very much in a churn phase.”

“The pandemic was an unanticipated, precipitous change to our work,” said Jeremiah Quinlan, dean of undergraduate admissions and financial aid at Yale. He said Yale had already begun studying the value of standardized testing in their process even before the pandemic. “And then obviously, some of our questions changed as we went through cycles of test-optional admissions. We’ve now been through four.”

In analyses of the applicant pool, the admitted class, the freshman class, and comparisons of students who were admitted with and without test scores, Yale found that the scores accurately predicted academic performance. Students with higher scores were more likely to have higher grades at Yale.

Test scores also predicted students’ grades at Yale better than anything else on their applications, school officials said.

That finding was consistent with a recent study of a dozen highly selective colleges from Opportunity Insights, in which researchers found that even among otherwise similar students with the same grades in high school, SAT and ACT scores “have substantial predictive power for academic success in college.”

“The first question you have when you open up an application file, is ‘Can this student do the work at Yale?’” Quinlan said. Tests, along with transcripts, are a huge part of answering that question, he said.

In recent years, Yale has enrolled more than 1,000 students who did not submit scores. But analyses found that applicants who withheld scores were less likely to be admitted. That was especially true for those from lower-income families and high schools with fewer college-preparatory courses.

“The entire admissions office staff is keenly aware of the research on the correlations between standardized test scores and household income as well as the persistent gaps by race,” Quinlan said in a statement to the Yale community. “Our experience, however, is that including test scores as one component of a thoughtful whole-person review process can help increase the diversity of the student body rather than decrease it.”

The findings mirror those of Dartmouth. Sian Leah Beilock, Dartmouth’s president, said earlier this month that the school concluded the numbers could be particularly helpful in identifying students with fewer advantages who otherwise might be overlooked.

Dartmouth will require SAT scores from applicants again

Yale will also allow more types of tests than in the past, adding Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate scores as options along with the SAT and ACT.

The “test-flexible” policy was influenced by another reality: With some schools not considering scores, Quinlan said, “There are plenty of students in states, particularly in California, where taking the SAT or ACT is not going to be part of their college plans.”

Applications surged after big-name colleges halted SAT and ACT testing rules

Yale did gain more applicants since it made the scores optional, from 35,000 to 57,000 — 66 percent more in four years. Those pools included high numbers of applications from students whose parents didn’t go to college, from lower-income neighborhoods and from underrepresented minority groups.

But when applications without scores were reviewed, admissions officers put greater weight on other aspects of the application — in ways that inadvertently hurt such students.

While some students can supplement their applications with extras such as rigorous classes, personalized recommendations and impressive extracurricular activities, others at schools with lesser resources are left with fewer indicators of their performance and potential, Quinlan explained.

Before the pandemic, requiring testing hadn’t hurt Yale’s ability to increase diversity: From 2013 and 2019, according to the school, the number of underrepresented minority students increased 52 percent, the number of students who were first in their families to attend college increased 65 percent, and the number of freshmen eligible for a Pell Grant increased 95 percent.

The university created podcasts to help explain and clarify the decisions. Mark Dunn, senior associate director of admissions for outreach and recruitment at Yale, said officials understand the holistic admissions process is opaque and they want applicants to get information directly from the school rather than paying a self-proclaimed ‘expert’ or searching corners of the internet.

“The amount of energy people spend fretting about test scores, asking us really specific questions about elements of testing policies and even just trying to improve their scores is, we think, disproportionate to their actual role in our process,” Dunn said.

essay sat scoring

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SAT General Info

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You know your SAT score is important for college admissions and even things like scholarships, but how does your SAT score get calculated? I'll show the steps to calculating your final SAT score so you can get an accurate idea of how well you're doing on the exam.

Step 1: Determine Your Raw Scores

Your raw score is simply calculated using the number of questions you answered correctly.

  • For every question you answer correctly on the SAT, you receive one point .
  • There is no penalty for guessing or skipping.

The maximum possible raw score varies by section (and depends on the total number of questions asked). For example, for the Reading Test, there are 52 questions, so the maximum raw score is 52. If you answered all 52 questions correctly, you would have a raw score of 52. For Math, there are 58 questions. For Writing, there are 44 multiple-choice questions.

There is one essay, which is graded separately on a scale of 2-8 and is not factored into your composite score (your 400-1600 score); therefore, I will not be discussing it further in this article, but for more information, read our articles on SAT essay prompts and the SAT essay rubric .

Step 2: Convert the Raw Scores to Scaled Scores

The raw score is converted into the scale score (on the 200 to 800 scale for each section) using a table . This table varies by SAT test date. The table is used as a way to make sure each test is "standardized". The table is a way of making "easier" SAT tests equal to the "harder" SAT tests. For instance, a raw score of 57 in Math might translate to an 800 on one test date and 790 on another.

For Math, you simply convert your raw score to final section score using the table. For the Evidence-Based Reading and Writing section score, there is an extra step. You get individual raw scores for the Reading Test and the Writing and Language Test. These two raw scores are the converted into two scaled test scores using a table. The two test scores are then added together and multiplied by 10 to give you your final Evidence-Based Reading and Writing section score (from 200 to 800). I'll explain this more in-depth with examples below:

You cannot know what the raw to scale score conversion will be in advance. While the exact raw to scale score conversion will vary by testing date, here's an example chart from one of the official College Board SAT Practice Tests :

Note: this is just an example. The exact conversion chart will vary slightly depending on the individual test.

Why are Reading and Writing and Language listed as separate sections? Why are they graded from 10-40 instead of 200-800? As I mentioned briefly before, y ou get separate raw scores for the Reading and Writing and Language. You then take these two raw scores and convert them into two scale scores using the above table. For example, if you answered 33 correctly in Reading and 39 correctly in Writing and Language, your scale scores would be 29 and 35, respectively.

These two scaled scores are then added together and multiplied by 10 to give you your final Evidence-Based Reading and Writing section score (from 200 to 800). Continuing the above example, if your scale scores were 29 for Reading and 35 for Writing and Language, your final Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scaled score would be:

(29 + 35) x 10 = 64 x 10 = 640

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Step 3: Take the Scaled Scores and Add Them Together

Once you have your scaled score for both the Math and Evidence-Based Reading and Writing sections, you just add them together to get your overall SAT composite score.

For example, if you scored a 710 in Math and 640 in Evidence-Based Reading and Writing, your composite score would be 710+640 = 1350.

How to Understand Your SAT Score Report

The College Board gives you the breakdown of your incorrect, correct, and omitted answers on your SAT score report in addition to your final scaled scores. See below excerpts from a real new SAT score report:

body_scaledscoresnewsat.png

Note that on this test, the raw Math score was out of 57, not 58, points. This sometimes happens when a question on the test is deemed to be unfair or unanswerable and the SAT drops it from everyone's scoring.

For the Reading and Writing and Language sections on this SAT score report, this student's raw scores were 52 and 42 . These raw SAT section scores scaled to section scores of 40 (Reading) and 39 (Writing and Language), which translated to a 790 Evidence-Based Reading & Writing Score :

(40 + 39) x 10 = 790

I'd like to emphasize that you will not be able to determine what the full table of raw to scaled scores conversion was from your score report. Instead, you will only be able to determine what your raw score was and see how it translated to your scaled score.

What This Means for You

Once you have determined your target SAT score in terms of raw score, you can use it to determine your SAT test strategy options. We have plenty of resources to help you out. Once you know what SAT score you're aiming for and how far you are from that goal score, you can begin to develop a study plan, gather study materials, and get to work on raising your score!

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As an SAT/ACT tutor, Dora has guided many students to test prep success. She loves watching students succeed and is committed to helping you get there. Dora received a full-tuition merit based scholarship to University of Southern California. She graduated magna cum laude and scored in the 99th percentile on the ACT. She is also passionate about acting, writing, and photography.

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  2. SAT Essay Scoring: Everything You Ever Wanted To Know

    essay sat scoring

  3. SAT Essay Scores Explained

    essay sat scoring

  4. How Is the SAT Scored? Scoring Charts (2022)

    essay sat scoring

  5. How the Essay is Scored, SAT Essay Bootcamp #4

    essay sat scoring

  6. How Is the SAT Scored? Scoring Charts

    essay sat scoring

VIDEO

  1. SAT Reading Tips and Writing Practice Strategies

  2. SCORING ESSAY ITEM: Holistic VS Analytical Method!!!

  3. SAT Writing Section Walkthrough from a 1600 scorer (final two passages)

  4. SAT Essay Scoring Explained

  5. The SAT Essay Formula

  6. Is a 3 on the SAT essay good?

COMMENTS

  1. SAT Essay Scoring

    You'll receive three scores for the SAT Essay—one for each dimension—ranging from 2-8 points. There is no composite SAT Essay score (the three scores are not added together) and there are no percentiles. We train every scorer to hold every student to the same standards, the ones shown on this page. Reading Scoring Guide Analysis Scoring Guide

  2. SAT Essay Scores Explained

    Instead, a student opting to take the SAT Essay receives 2-8 scores in three dimensions: reading, analysis, and writing. No equating or fancy lookup table is involved. The scores are simply the sum of two readers' 1-4 ratings in each dimension. There is no official totaling or averaging of scores, although colleges may choose to do so.

  3. What's the Average SAT Essay Score?

    First, a quick reminder about how SAT essays are scored: two graders score each SAT essay on a scale of 1-4 across three different dimensions: Reading Analysis Writing Summed together, this means your score can range between 2 and 8 for each area.

  4. What is a Good SAT Essay Score?

    It does not impact your overall score out of 1600. Instead, your Essay grade stands alone on your score report. While the College Board does not require the SAT Essay, certain schools do. Schools that Require the SAT Essay All of the University of California schools Benedictine University City University London Delaware State University

  5. SAT Essay Scoring Rubric

    Each reader gives a score of 1-4 for each of three criteria, the two scores are added, and the student gets three essay scores ranging from 2-8, one for each criterion. So what are the criteria that readers so rigidly follow? SAT Essay Scoring Criteria Reading One Point Demonstrates little or no comprehension of the source text

  6. SAT Essay Rubric: Full Analysis and Writing Strategies

    Otherwise, your essay scoring is done by two graders - each one grades you on a scale of 1-4 in Reading, Analysis, and Writing, for a total essay score out of 8 in each of those three areas. But how do these graders assign your writing a numerical grade? By using an essay scoring guide, or rubric. *may not actually be the least belovèd.

  7. How to Get a Perfect 8|8|8 SAT Essay Score

    If you're already scoring a 5 or above in all three areas on practice (or real) SAT essays, you have a shot at completely nailing what the graders want, represented by a score of 8/8/8, with a little practice.

  8. SAT Essay Scoring Demystified: What You Need to Know

    The final SAT Essay score is the sum of the scores for each of the three criteria, ranging from 6 to 24. 5. Scoring Rubric: - The College Board provides a detailed scoring rubric that outlines the specific criteria graders use to assess each of the three criteria. The rubric describes the characteristics of essays at each score level, helping ...

  9. 8 Tips For Earning a High Score on the SAT Essay

    April 30, 2018 You took the PSAT/NMSQT, sailed on through sections filled with multiple-choice questions, and now the SAT seems more tangible than ever before. It's only now that you take the time to consider that there's an essay portion. So now you'll have to rinse, repeat, and throw some longform writing into the mix—what gives?

  10. What Is a Good SAT Score?

    The total score range is 2-8 for each category. A perfect SAT essay score would be three 8's — that's a 4 from both graders in all three categories. Although the College Board doesn't report any percentiles for the SAT essay, it does provide the average scores for each category based on 2020 data:

  11. SAT Essay Scores: How To Get A Perfect Score

    The SAT Essay score will not be a composite score in which all of the scores are added together, nor are there percentiles; What Is A Perfect SAT Essay Score. Based on the criteria from above, a perfect score on the SAT essay would be three scores of 8. In other words, you will need to score a 4 from each scorer in each dimension.

  12. SAT Essay Scores: All about SAT Essay Score Range

    The essay SAT score is an optional part of SAT with a self-regulating scoring system, i.e., means essay score is not involved in the total maximum SAT score of 1600. An evaluator will give you between 1 and 4 points for each section. In totality, each dimension is being scored out of 8 likely points. The 3 separate scores out of 8 points mean ...

  13. What Is A Good SAT Essay Score?

    Currently, the SAT essay is scored on a scale of 1 to 6 by two graders, for a total essay score out of 12. Your essay is scored holistically, which means you don't get bumped down to a certain essay grade if you make, for instance, a certain number of comma errors. Instead, SAT essay scorers use the SAT essay rubric to grade your essay as a whole.

  14. SAT Essay Samples

    Essay Sample Response (Low Scoring) "In "Let there be dark," Paul Bogard talks about the importance of darkness. Darkness is essential to humans. Bogard states, "Our bodies need darkness to produce the hormone melatonin, which keeps certain cancers from developing, and our bodies need darkness for sleep, sleep.

  15. SAT Essay Scores- Score Range, Score Calculation, Colleges, and Samples

    The SAT essay score is measured on a scale of 2 to 8. The SAT essay score is measured on 3 criteria - reading, analysis, and writing with each section marked on 1 - 8. There are certain universities that consider the SAT Essay score vital for assessment despite it being optional. Therefore, a focus should be placed on the proper preparation of the essays for SAT and candidates should also be ...

  16. 2024 Digital SAT® Score Calculator

    What is the Digital SAT®? When is the SAT® going digital? The Digital SAT® represents a significant evolution in how the College Board administers and scores the SAT®. Starting in Spring 2024, this new format leverages the benefits of digital testing and adaptivity to better assess a student's capabilities.

  17. Yale adopts "test-flexible" admissions policy

    Yale University is adopting what it calls a "test-flexible" policy on standardized exam requirements, in which applicants must submit test scores but can choose to replace the traditional SAT or ACT with AP or International Baccalaureate exams. The policy will go into effect next admissions cycle.

  18. How the new digital SAT works

    By the numbers: More than 80% of four-year colleges and universities won't require fall 2025 applicants to submit SAT/ACT scores, according to FairTest. That amounts to at least 1,825 bachelor-degree granting schools. In the current college application season, just 4% of Common App member schools are requiring test scores, down from 55% in 2019-20.

  19. Yale Brings Back SAT Testing as Best Way of Predicting Success

    Yale University is bringing back the SAT and ACT as requirements for undergraduate admission after years of not asking students to submit standardized exams.

  20. How Is the SAT Scored? Scoring Charts

    Overview The SAT has two big sections—Evidence-Based Reading and Writing (EBRW), and Math. You can earn a scaled score of between 200 and 800 points on each section, for a total of 1600 possible points on the SAT. The scaled score of between 200 and 800 is converted from the raw score you earn on each section.

  21. The SAT is being overhauled this spring. Here's what Maryland ...

    Some universities require students to submit SAT and ACT scores with their application packages, but others, such as those in the University System of Maryland, have made it optional. The USM ...

  22. How are computers scoring STAAR essays? Texas superintendents, lawmaker

    The new scoring method rolled out amid a broader STAAR redesign. The revamped test — which launched last year — has a cap on multiple choice questions and essays at every grade level.

  23. SAT Essay Tips: 15 Ways to Improve Your Score

    The Challenge The SAT Essay is a very short assignment. You only get 50 minutes to read a 650-750 word passage, analyze the devices the author uses to structure her/his argument, and write a full-fledged essay —and it can pass in a flash if you don't have a method for attacking it.

  24. Yale to Require Standardized Test Scores for Admissions

    In making its announcement, Yale released the middle range of SAT and ACT scores of its 2020 first-year class. Since Yale instituted a test-optional policy, the university said that roughly half ...

  25. Yale will again require standardized test scores for admission

    Yale University will again require students to submit SAT or other standardized test scores when they apply for admission, dropping a test-optional policy.

  26. How Do You Calculate SAT Score? Raw and Scaled

    Step 1: Determine Your Raw Scores Your raw score is simply calculated using the number of questions you answered correctly. For every question you answer correctly on the SAT, you receive one point. There is no penalty for guessing or skipping. The maximum possible raw score varies by section (and depends on the total number of questions asked).