Will curves vary if the test was RIDICULOUSLY hard?

<p>I took the SAT II World History test, and I thought it was brutal and mean. More than half of the questions were totally random stuff that didn't look quite orthodox in a standardized test that is supposed to test "standardized" knowledge. I totally screwed this test, and I'm concerned because if the curve does not work out right, I'm REALLY SCREWED..</p>

<p>I know that about 82/95 will get me an 800, but I'm curious whether this curve could be extended depending on the difficulty of the test. How far can SAT II test curves be stretched?</p>

<p>we have to wait and see. what prep book did you use? i used barrons AP and remember seeing quite a few people that i have NEVER heard of. Zheng he and zionest jews were definitely not in my ap barrons</p>

<p>I’m sorry to say that the curve will probably be more-or-less the same. After every test, people (including myself) have thought that their specific test was SO much more difficult than the others, sometimes justified. But the curve doesn’t seem to change all that much…</p>

<p>You can expect a fluctuation of a few points to either side, but you shouldn’t get your hopes up for a miraculous curve.</p>

<p>Did you check your answers with the World History thread?</p>

<p>EDIT: ^collegebound…really? Never heard of Zheng He and Zionist Jews? We learned that in our freshman year regents class. Zheng He was the Chinese eunuch that traveled on a ship, spreading Chinese culture and receiving tributes from other nations. But as China turned isolationist, he was forced to return to China. Zionist Jews basically wanted Israel to exist.</p>

<p>^^^yea i know a little but the question was “zheng he was what:”
a. voyager
b. admiral
c. philiospher</p>

<p>the answer is speculated to be B., although may might not have been a choice. </p>

<p>Zionest was never touched upon and i was thinking conservative for some reason. But the sterotypes of nationalism were true lol</p>

<p>So what do you think will be the lowest raw score for an 800</p>

<p>SAT Literature was sooooooo harddddd. I guessed on everything literally.</p>

<p>Yes, it can vary alot if the test was difficult.</p>

<p>In May, for chemistry, the raw for an 800 was 78/85. In the BB practice test it is 82/85.</p>

<p>zionist were nationalist coz they r the one that created israel in palestine while zhen he traveled around indian ocean. it was written in kaplans but yeah the test was brutal!</p>

<p>I took world history and it was the most random I’ve ever - def harder than practice tests… American Indians? Really? I dunno how the IIs work but with ACT, SAT, and AP there is severe variance based on difficulty… hopefully these are the same</p>

<p>I didn’t take the world history exam, but I think people on CC tend to overemphasize the likelihood of getting a “good curve.” I think that the curve will only vary by a few raw points if a “harder” test is given.</p>

<p>No. I don’t the curves change that much. And I don’t think they make the test any harder than previous ones.</p>

<p>With what 10scholar said… is it true that the ACT and SAT I have their curves set on difficulty? Do they try to keep the percentiles for everyone the same or something?</p>

<p>@Charlie Brown - I guess it depends on what you classify as a good curve. Many of the people on CC including me are seeing those few raw points as the difference between a desired score - 800 - and a good score - 770 or so. I think that the raw curves can fluctuate at least this much. No, a 700 raw on one test won’t translate to an 800 on a more difficult one, but they do factor in difficulty and percentages of students answering questions correctly.</p>

<p>-I don’t know whether they’re set on difficulty, but I suspect they try to keep percentages the same. I’ll use an example from the ACT in April for this. I missed 2 science and 2 math questions, and got a 35 on both sections. Using the released tests, which were easier, my subscores could’ve been 34 and 32. But since those tests were so ridiculous, they curved it more easily.<br>
I don’t know what you guys think, but to me a full composite point (supposedly equivalent to ~60 SAT points) is a big deal</p>

<p>^^^if you actually think about it. 4 pts is a huge extra curve for chem considering its out of 85. I wouldnt mind that for WH, which would be rediculous making the curve about 70/95. Although this is the curve for a 5 on AP WH</p>

<p>I dont understand why regular chem curve is -3 on a 85 point test, while on math II it is -6 on a 50 point test.</p>