SAT's Explained

The Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT's) is a standardized test that most high school students take before applying to college. About two million students take this exam yearly. Usually high school juniors take this test for the first time. One out of every two students take this test twice -   typically in the spring of their junior year and again in the fall of their senior year.

The SAT score predicts how students will do academically as a college freshman and is a means to compare. The SAT assists college administrators to make acceptance decisions. Administrators also look at your academic record, your involvement in a school activities, your essay, and your letters of recommendation.

The SAT  tests in three areas: Critical Reading, Math,  and Writing. The SAT has eight types of questions in sections on Critical Reading, writing, and math. You have 3 hours and 45 minutes to complete the SAT. You should plan to spend 4 ½ - 5 hours in the testing room.

The Math section includes multiple choice and grid-ins and totals 70 minutes (two 25-minute sections and one 20-minute section). The math section totals 54 questions.

The Critical Reading sections include sentence completions and passage based reading and totals 70 minutes (two 25-minute sections and one 20-minute section). Total Critical Reading questions total 67.

The Writing section includes identifying sentence errors, improving sentences, improving paragraphs and an essay. This section totals 60 minutes (one 25-minute essay, one 25-multiple choice sections, and one 10-minute multiple-choice section). The writing section totals 49 questions and 1 essay.

Your SAT scores are based on nine sections although the test contains 10 sections. One section is used for future tests and is in the same format as other sections so you have no way of knowing which section is the experimental one so you must do your best on all sections. 

Why are they important? Students have difference experiences, come from a wide variety of schools with different requirements, different grading systems,  and different academic standards. The SAT's are one of the tools college administrators use to predict your chances of success in the college classes you take.

Call us today at 508-821-7770 to learn the strategies and tips to improve your chances of admission to your first choice! Visit  our website for current SAT Prep classes at learningmagic.net.