BB scoring scales

Test Preparation SAT Preparation
1

<p>The scoring scales in the blue book are rather confusing (to me) at times. For instance, in the writing section it says you can get as low an essay score as 8 coupled with a raw score of 45/49 and still send up with an 800 (with the score range being 670-800). Now, im almost sure i know someone that got an 8 on the essay and all the mc questions right and still didnt get an 800. </p>

<p>Or in the Math section, the scale says you can get 2 wrong and end up with an 800 and a friend i know left out 1 question and got a 770 :S</p>

<p>I know the obvious thing to do is find the average of the range to see what score you would most likely get but I cant help but wonder if i were to fall on either extreme of the scale...</p>

<p>And I always see people talking about strategies they used to go from middle 600s to low 700s or low 700s to mid- high 700s and i cant help but understand what they are really talking about when the score difference is a mere 2 more questions right. The transition from doing subject tests where missing a question meant either no change in score to a score of 10 points less versus SAT 1 where missing a question can drop you a whopping 30 points is frustrating...</p>

2

<p>The scale ranges given (roughly) represent the extreme range that you could get on an SAT, depending on the difficulty of the test. For example, one question wrong out of 54 math questions has (since 3/2005) resulted in a score of 760 to 800. It may be best to do two things: 1) calculate the score in the middle as a best estimate; 2) don’t think of that number as particularly exact.</p>

3

<p>On my previous two SAT I testing dates, I answered only one question incorrectly in the math section and received a 780 each time. As for writing, I had a 730 two tests ago with 3 incorrect MC and a 9 on the essay. The essay accounts for a smaller portion (30%?) of your score than the aggregate MC score, but my experiences lead me to believe that those score ranges are not entirely accurate. However, I believe it varies between tests.</p>