<p>I was just thinking about it and became curious, if someone was to take the SATs with absolutely no preparation, approximately how much lower would the score be compared to the nominal score with full prep?</p>
<p>Depends on the person, but lower for sure!
When I didn't study at all, my PSAT scores were 54,55,67.. and then I studied alot for the SAT and ended up getting 670,670,760.. so studying helps.</p>
<p>I didn't study at all for the SAT and did fine (2360); I think this was because I made a conscious effort NOT to stress myself out by studying and prepping and making it a huge deal.</p>
<p>It depends totally on the person. There's no way you can guess how badly you'll screw up or how lucky you'll get if you don't prep before you take it. Some people don't need to prep at all and others need a lot.</p>
<p>They say most people who take the SATs have never seen an SAT problem in thier entire life, the national average is also like 1500.</p>
<p>With no prep I scored so low on the psat that I don't even want to post my score (but hey I was also sick the day I took it). After I prepped really hard I raised my score by over 700 points.</p>
<p>On the December SAT I laughed to myself as a girl in front of me asked the proctor halfway through a section if it was ok to write in the test booklet on the math section. Obviously, she did not score very high, but she probably could have if she had prepared for the test and known what to expect.</p>