<p>I've heard that January SAT is more difficult than usual. Did any of you guys take the SAT in JAN; is it really harder?
Please give me some confirmation. Thank you</p>
<p>They're all equally hard.</p>
<p>Most of the stuff you hear is not worth a listen.</p>
<p>Well IMO, April would be the hardest since the majority starts taking them at this point...</p>
<p>January was the easiest for me (2006), and I got the best in 1 sitting score in January. </p>
<p>And THEY ARE NOT EQUALLY HARD! Whoever says that has not taken the SAT's enough to know. Some sections will be a breeze/hell, depending on personal views (concerning verbal sections and essay topics).</p>
<p>Math is usually the 1 section that doesn't change, but this can vary also. There are about 1~3 problems that are considered "most difficult" on the test, and if you get it, you'll get a high score, and if you don't...well because the math curve sucks, you'll probably drop about 30~90 points. And that is a pretty big difference.</p>
<p>Standardized tests = all the same. If it were easier some dates, don't you think everyone would take it then?</p>
<p>Since the curves are set beforehand, it doesn't matter who's taking the test.</p>
<p>WHEN WILL PEOPLE LEARN THIS?</p>
<p>Hey, relax, 193...; it's just a question</p>
<p>I was replying to jovenes.</p>
<p>Look, it makes no sense whatsoever that SAT's are all the same. Sure, collegeboard attempts to make them the same difficulty, but in the end, you have to get lucky with your questions. </p>
<p>It's not like they test you on the exact same material over and over! </p>
<p>Let's take some examples:</p>
<p>There are certain topics that RARELY appear on the test, for example, in the Math IIC test, one topic is standard deviation, something covered in Statistics. Barrons, one of the most comprehensive books unnecessarily filled with uncommon topics, didn't even cover it. 1 book, Princeton Review, covered it, but said that you will probably never encounter it. Guess what? I happened to get that 1 question, and of course, I had no idea how to do it. </p>
<p>In SAT 1's: Vocabulary -- wow some days are awesome, some days just suck. Unless you have memorized the dictionary, eliminate stupid choices, or guess well, chances are you won't do well.<br>
Essay topic -- Some topics wil stump you, some won't...</p>
<p>It may not matter what date you're taking the test, but you cannot argue that all standardized tests are the same when there are uncontrollable variables at hand. </p>
<p>In my experience, I got 2130 in January, I wanted higher so I studied more for 3 more months. April test was a killer, and I dropped to 2040. Yeah...made no sense, but I undoubtabely had a much more difficult time with it than the January one.</p>
<p>One test date may be easier/more difficult based on what you prepared, your educational background, whether or not your were sick, etc. But for the vast majority, the SAT has the same difficulty across test dates. That's why they equate the scores before the test dates (set the curves) - so that the difficulty remains the same and scores from different dates can therefore be compared.</p>
<p>All I'm saying is that you really can't tell beforehand which dates will be easier/harder. There's no pattern whatsoever, and it really depends on the individual.</p>
<p>19382 has it right...SATs are STANDARDIZED! that does not mean they are all identical in what they test but they are all approximately the same level. that's the whole point of the field testing section in there...</p>
<p>score fluctuations can be attributed to lack of sleep, personal experience with an essay topic, etc...it comes down to the fact that it's YOU, not the test, that is different. besides, collegeboard says that there's a 100 point margin (on each section) that scores vary between in different testings, so a 90 point drop over three sections is nothing extraordinary...that's what that whole range and percentile stuff at the top is about. it's not just to kill trees.</p>
<p>basically all that it seems like jovenes132's point proves is that you should take it as many times as possible, because you might happen to get lucky and hit a section you know more about.</p>
<p>if the test is more difficult the curve adjusts for that. same if it's easier. that's the point of standardized.</p>
<p>i thought the curve was based on how the students perform.....like, if the raw scores are worse than usual, the curve is more generous and vice-versa</p>
<p>No, the curve is set beforehand. Basing it off of students' performance would make it unstandardized.</p>
<p>wait so your score is different compareed to like how many people took it or something? i'm realy curious since i'm taking the sat in january too
ah im really confused</p>
<p>Three steps in scaling the scores.</p>
<ol>
<li> All test items have difficulty ratings from pretesting, so test is assembled to have a specific average difficulty.</li>
<li> Average difficulty based on actual student responses on test is compared with predicted average difficulty, and adjustments made.</li>
<li> Performance on equating items compared with performance on during other test administrations. Scale is then "equated" to represent relative strength of students taking this administration compared to other administrations.</li>
</ol>
<p>So, 1 is sort of a pre-curve, while 2 and 3 are sort of post-curve. None of these are actual "curves," but are in reality statistical adjustments to be sure that every test form is equivalent and that the students at any given administration are fairly scored, e.g., a strong group of students is not penalized because their average score is "too high," or a weak test group is not given too much of a group because their average is "too low"</p>