The SAT is a standardized test widely used for college admissions in the United States. Introduced in 1926, its name and scoring have changed several times; originally called the Scholastic Aptitude Test, it was later called the Scholastic Assessment Test, then the SAT I: Reasoning Test, then the SAT Reasoning Test, and now, simply the SAT.
The SAT is owned, developed, and published by the College Board, a private, non-profit organization in the United States. It is administered on behalf of the College Board by the Education Testing Service, which until recently developed the SAT as well. The test is intended to assess students' readiness for college. The SAT was originally designed not to be aligned with high school curricula, but several adjustments were made for the version of the SAT introduced in 2016, and College Board president, David Coleman, has said that he also wanted to make the test reflect more closely what students learned in high school.
SAT is a standardized test administered by the College Board and is required to be taken by students seeking admission in undergraduate schools. SAT exam has been developed to evaluate the written, verbal and mathematical skills of the candidates.
Applicants to undergraduate courses, particularly in US and Canada, are required to take the SAT exam. If the student is looking to get admission to a particular course, s/he can take the SAT subject tests to show his knowledge and understanding of that particular subject. Subject tests are offered in areas like Literature, History, Mathematics, Sciences and Foreign Languages.
A recent review of admissions policies by The National Center for Fair & Open Testing (Fair Test) revealed that many colleges have moved away from SAT subject test, which some years back was crucial for admission to top American universities.
SAT Pattern
SAT exam pattern is as follow- three sections, namely, Math, Reading, and Writing. There is an optional section which is called the Essay, which has one 50 minutes long substantial passage from which the student needs to build their argument. Students are not scored on this section. Here we cover the general SAT test pattern.
Here is the SAT paper pattern -
The SAT has four sections: Reading, Writing and Language, Math (no calculator), and Math (calculator allowed). The test taker may optionally write an essay which, in that case, is the fifth test section. The total time for the scored portion of the SAT is three hours (or three hours and fifty minutes if the optional essay section is taken). Some test takers who are not taking the essay may also have a fifth section, which is used, at least in part, for the pretesting of questions that may appear on future administrations of the SAT. (These questions are not included in the computation of the SAT score.) Two section scores result from taking the SAT: Evidence-Based Reading and Writing, and Math. Section scores are reported on a scale of 200 to 800, and each section score is a multiple of ten. A total score for the SAT is calculated by adding the two section scores, resulting in total scores that range from 400 to 1600. There is no penalty for guessing on the SAT: scores are based on the number of questions answered correctly. In addition to the two section scores, three "test" scores on a scale of 10 to 40 are reported, one for each of Reading, Writing and Language, and Math. The essay, if taken, is scored separately from the two section scores.
Scores:
| Subject | Duration | Subsections | Questions | Score Range |
| Math | 80 minutes | Calculator allowed for 37 questions Calculator not allowed for 20 questions |
| 200-800 |
| Reading | 65 minutes | Total 52 questions |
| 200-800 (combined with Writing section) |
| Writing and Language | 35 minutes | Total 44 questions |
| 200-800 (combined with Reading section) |
| Essay (optional) | 50 minutes | One 50 minutes optional essay | This section requires students to evaluate an argument through analysis of evidence | not scored |
| Total | 3 hours (with optional 50 minutes) | 154 questions | --- | 1600 |
SAT Score Validity: The SAT scores are valid over a period of 5 years, until or unless there has been a change in the criteria for SAT. Candidates mostly do not use their SAT scores till five years or so. They usually take new tests and then they apply to the desired colleges.
Website: www.sat.collegeboard.org
