<p>K so sometimes I feel like scoring high on the SAT I is kinda about luck. For people who want to score 800 on CR or Writing, the conversion table is just brutal. Even with a 12 essay, you can just from a 800 to like a 760 just by missing two or three questions. And on the reading.. missing 4 questions is like a 760, but missing two is a 800. ONLY TWO QUESTION difference. On a bad day, you could basically vary like 40 points per section.</p>
<p>Math, no: you have to get literally every question correct. At most you can miss one… so you have to basically know all the material</p>
<p>Writing, no: you really have to know the grammar rules, especially with the No Error thingy. And I don’t think you can get a 12 essay just from luck</p>
<p>Reading, yes: vocab difficulty seems varied from test to test (to me at least), and then some reading passages may be more interesting than others (which, I’m sure, helps you concentrate). and you can make a good two or three mistakes.</p>
<p>I got two multiple choice questions wrong, had an 11 essay, and got an 800. so ya 
know your idioms, kids :]</p>
<p>(reading killed me though, so don’t be jealous)</p>
<p>The strict policy of needing to get EVERYTHING right makes me wanna say that math could be very affected by luck…but the fact that plenty of people score 800 makes me think otherwise so idk…</p>
<p>There’s definitely an element of luck in the sense that you can have a good testing day where your mind is clear and you are very focused. However, note that for the very best test takers, it really doesn’t matter. You’ll score well either way.</p>
<p>There are some people who can consistently score an 800 in a particular section of the SAT… One of my friends took the SAT three times - to raise his CR score each time - and got an 800 math on each test. I personally can consistently get an 800 on writing (usually none wrong but every once in a while I’ll get one wrong).</p>
<p>However, if you’re someone who is already at the upper range of each section score, then yes, I think getting 800s comes down to luck. On practice tests I fluctuate between 750 and 800 on CR… I’ve gotten none wrong on some occasions, other tests I’ve gotten three or four wrong. It’s not like I get worse at CR from test to test, it’s just that sometimes there will be a vocab word I don’t know or a passage that doesn’t interest me as much.</p>
<p>w/e</p>
<p>Yea that is very true :/. Vocab on CR can the the end of everything. Writing can be wierd though. College board will occasionally put up some esoteric idiom or lame rule that no one would care about in the real world.</p>
<p>static75 I got 11 on my essay and got THREE wrong and got 750 XD. SEE WHAT I MEAN!?!?!?</p>
<p>I somewhat agree with strosfan. Math a definite no and CR a definite yes. Though I think you can get lucky on writing; I have definitely come across some harder and easier tests and essay prompts, even though you still have to know grammar rules and how to write an SAT essay (though a similar statement could be said for CR). The June 09 test where I scored 800 was definitely easier than all my others (including practice tests), where I would always miss at least 3-4 multiple choice.</p>
<p>On your June test did u miss any questions at all?</p>
<p>Math part is definitely luck. 750-800 is about the same. The SAT purposely puts lots of numbers all over the place so you will eventually make a calculator typo or something.</p>
<p>whoa Djokovic. maybe our curves were different? (in which case - I guess I did get lucky?) my test was Nov 2008.</p>
<p>If you can get an 800 on math once, you can do it again. I don’t think making a calculator mistake or a simple arithmetic error is “bad luck,” it’s bad test-taking skills [to put it bluntly] because you can control it. You can’t control your passages you get on CR or the writing prompt. I feel like CR is the most subjective, and at least to me it seems like it’s the section that varies the most in difficulty-sometimes the hardest passages are REALLY tough and sometimes they’re not that bad.</p>
<p>If I get a 800 on writing once, but usually score 720-750, can I get an 800 on the real test???</p>
<p>Can you? yes
Will you? probably not</p>
<p>:/</p>
<p>Yea CR is erratic. Some passages I can just pwn no problem, others jsut catch me off guard. IT IS SO WEIRD</p>
<p>Yes, it can be luck in the sense of getting a vocab word you don’t know or a tricky geometry problem, or just waking up sick on test day. Most people who get an 800 on any section could end up with a 770 or 780 if they took it again. Colleges know this.</p>
<p>Basically, any score between 770-800 on any section is about the same to elite colleges (including Harvard).</p>