SAT Score

SAT is a reasoning test or more precisely, the standardized qualifying test for college admissions in the United States of America. SAT is designed to test the reasoning ability, language skills, quantitative aptitude and understanding of the subject selected, to check the eligibility of the candidate. The test was formerly conducted by the Education Testing Service which is now controlled and coordinated by a not-for-profit organization named the 'College Board'. However, the administrations works are exercised by the 'Education Testing Service' even now. The important part of the SAT test, like any other test, is the score. The score is a yardstick to assess the competency of a candidate to pursue college education in USA. However, SAT scores are not the only way to determine eligibility. The admission committees can also consider recommendations, performance in interviews, admission essays, academic grades, etc. All this will be considered along with the SAT score before absorbing a student to a college. The idea behind the launch of this standardized test is that the scores obtained in SAT along with high school grades can help judge a candidate better than just high school grades alone. This is because SAT tests inspect how a candidate analyses, interprets and solves a given set of problems within a given span of time. More facts about the SAT score are explained right below.

Good SAT Score

SAT Score - What Does It Mean?
SAT scores represents the overall performance of a candidate in the test. It serves as a way to judge a candidate's eligibility to study in the USA. The SAT Score Report consists of three sets of scores - one each for the verbal test, writing and for mathematics (quantitative aptitude).

Each section of the test - The verbal section, writing section and the mathematics section has a scale of 200 - 800 and all scores are multiples of 10. Total scores are obtained by adding the individual scores obtained in each section. So, the absolute perfect total score is 2400 i.e. 800 x 3, but almost no one scores that high a score. The median score is 1500, which is slightly higher than the midpoint (1200). The scores are usually rounded off to the nearest ten i.e. your score will always end in a zero. Usually the candidates receive raw scores and percentile along with their SAT score mails. Raw scores are the number of questions the candidate answers correctly minus the number of questions the candidate answers wrong. Percentiles are the percentage of other candidates who scored lesser than you. For example, if your percentile is 80, it indicates that 80% of your competitors performed worse than you.

Importance of SAT Score
SAT scores reveal a candidate's aptitude in verbal and written skills along with elementary mathematics which forms the basic requirement for college studies and hence most of the colleges in USA demand SAT scores while considering applications. The admission committee assesses prospective students through SAT scores and their school grades and hence SAT scores are very important for student aspirants to gain admission into a desired college/university. The higher the scores in SAT, the easier it would be to get into a desired college. However, some colleges consider non-academic merits like community involvements and other extra-curricular activities as well.

Average SAT Score
As mentioned earlier, SAT tests consist of 3 sections - Verbal, Writing and Mathematics sections. Each section is evaluated on a scale of 200 - 800. The average for each section is 500. So, for the overall SAT score, the average becomes 1500 (500 x 3). So, scoring 1500 in a SAT score will imply that you have scored 50% in the test.

Publishing SAT Score
Candidates will receive the scores by mail within a few weeks after taking up their tests. However, the results are usually published online as well.

SAT Score Comparison
If you wish to know what scores it will take for you to get to the desired college/university, you can compare your SAT scores to the current trends. This will give you a picture of your chances for admission. There are many websites that publish the scores of the enrolled students of different colleges. These scores will help reveal the current trend. You can compare your scores with these results to see if you are in a safe zone or in a danger zone. If your scores fall on the higher side, you can assume that you are in the safe zone and if not, you can assume that you are in the danger zone. However, you need to consider your academic and non-academic background as well. If all of these do favor you, then there is no chance to worry.