INFORMATION: THE SAT
The College Board SAT (Scholastic Assessment Test), now an integral part of the transition from high school to college, is offered seven times each year (roughly monthly from October to June) at test centers across the country. Students may register to take the test as many times as they wish (up to seven times each year). Three of the seven tests each year are available to review question by question in a diagnostic post-mortem after the scores come back under the Question-and-Answer Service.
We advise checking with individual college offices of undergraduate admissions as to which scores are seen and used by a particular college, how many times they might advise a student to take the test, and when to start. Most often, colleges advise taking the SAT as many times as needed until a student gets a comfortable representative sitting. Most high schools suggest waiting until the last Saturday of January in the junior year to take the SAT for the first time. We think students should start earlier.
Three scores (200 to 800 on each of Critical Reading (verbal); Math; and Writing (a 25-minute essay plus a 25-minute multiple-choice grammar, diction, usage, and Conformity with Standard Written English section) are reported to a student by mail roughly 30 days after a test date. Scores are available earlier by telephone or internet for an additional fee. We know of no colleges which average scores. Most colleges use highest separate Critical Reading (verbal) score, combined with highest separate math score, combined with highest separate writing score, even if those highest scores come from different test dates. Some very few colleges use the best combined scores from a single test date of the student’s choosing.
Our experience has been that the sooner a student starts PSAT or SAT preparation, the better. The tests are more psychological than academic in nature.
Johns Hopkins University sends in half a dozen academically-precocious seventh graders from every licensed school in the country to take the real SAT without preparation in January of their seventh-grade year. The results are outstanding before these students ever open an algebra, geometry, trigonometry, or pre-calculus book.
Test maker ETS is interested in a student’s classroom knowledge of mathematics, but tests that knowledge on the SAT Subject Tests: Math Level IC (Algebra and Geometry) and separate Math Level IIC (Analytic Geometry, Trigonometry, and Pre-calculus.)