<p>So are they after every section? And how long do you get?</p>
<p>You have the right to a 5-10 minute break after every hour. You're also allowed to bring in snacks to the test.</p>
<p>dude for when i took it... there was no break in the last whole 5 sections
there was like one after the 2nd section
and one after the 5th and then from 5th to 10th there was no breaks.. i wanted to go to the bathroom soo badly... but i had to finish the test >.></p>
<p>when i took it, i think we had one or two 5-minute breaks. i went to the restroom so i didn't have time to eat any snacks =(. we also have a 1-minute break, and we weren't allowed to go outside, so we just sat there for 1 minute and moved on to the next section. so, make sure u have enough food in the morning, not too much or too little. and don't drink too much water either, just drink an enough amount lol, so u won't end up like rainynightstarz if there's no break at all.</p>
<p>I also have another question. Recently I took a practice test on the collegeboard website, and noticed that there is a section 2,3, and 5, but no 4. Why is that?</p>
<p>because that is usually the experimentla section in the actualy SAT</p>
<p>^ Oh, ok.......so is that how the curve is figured out? BTW, is the experimental section writing, math, or CR?</p>
<p>Bump for my question directly above this post :)</p>
<p>the experimental can be any section (except the essay), and u won't be able to tell which one of the sections r experimental because they have no difference, so u have to make sure u do well on all of the sections =)</p>
<p>^ Ok. So if the experimental is only 1 section, how do they find the curve for the other 2 sections?</p>
<p>It is on a modified bell curve that looks like an upside down "U" where the majority of the scores get roughly 500 and the top 1% gets 800. But obviously nobody gets a 300, so thus it is "modified" aka slightly shifted right. That is really all anybody except an elite few working at CB knows.</p>
<p>I don't really understand...what is a "modified bell curve"? I didn't comprehend the whole "upside down 'U'" part either.</p>
<p>Ok, the non-math-geek translation is that a bell curve assumes that the majority of people with "average" ability will score about the same. What CB does is make that "average" score about a 500. Then they assume that the top 1 percent of takers deserve an 800. But really no one deserves a 300, so they "modify" the curve so that the minimum score is slightly higher, and thus that makes the "average" score slightly higher than a 500. The score to people curve looks something like this : <em>-^-</em>
The _ represents relatively few people towards the ends and the ^ represents the average and - represents above and below average. Since they get different people taking the test every time, the top 1 percent will alway perform different from the previous top 1 percent- thus making the curve different for each test.</p>
<p>So the curve is the same for each section?</p>
<p>Nope...differs between every section between every test.</p>
<p>LOL sorry if I'm frustrating you, but I'm still not getting this. I really appreciate how you took the time to explain how the bell curve works, but I'm not sure how CollegeBoard figures out the curves for all the subjects (CR, W, M), if it only uses one section to curve, which is obviously only going to be only one of the 3 subjects. I just don't know how they curve the other two.</p>
<p>No all 3 sections have their own curve. By curve, any given test you will have your 100% people, your 85% people your failing a test people. So, say your teacher gives a mean nasty hard test, the best score was a 90% that is the equivalent to 100% on any other test, it was too hard, but the one or two people still got a 90% who typically always get 100%, the 85% people now have 80%. </p>
<p>In Math on the SAT, more people get them all correct, so the curve is harder, meaning you can usually only get one or two wrong and still get an 800. Yet on CR or Writing section, you can maybe get 4 or 5 wrong and still get an 800 the curve is more lenient. But keeping in mind the ones getting the 800's still fall into the 1% category, as do the ones that get more wrong, but still within that predetermined range of 2 wrong in Math, 4 or 5 in CR/Writing.</p>
<p>^ I understand how curves in general work, but isn't how well people do on the experimental sections, the determining factor of how the curve is? Or am I completely misunderstanding the experimental section? Is the curve on each section determined exactly how you described in your first paragraph?</p>
<p>The experimental section IS NOT factored into your score at all. It's just for colleges to determine the general difficulty of those questions for future tests. The rest of the test is based upon a modified curve (as explained above).</p>
<p>Thanks. :)</p>