How do I know what score to aim for on the new SAT?

The Official SAT Study Guide Online: How do I know what SAT score to aim for?

When preparing to study for the new SAT, a good rule-of-thumb for deciding what score you should aim for is to take a practice test and then aim for 300 points higher than your first practice test score.

Why?  Because the new SAT is all a very healthy mixture of general knowledge and critical thinking strategies.  When studying for the SAT, you will have the most success if you first target your general-knowledge weaknesses and then focus your efforts on learning combined strategies, tips, and tricks for raising your SAT score.

By focusing your efforts on brushing up on the newly-discovered weaknesses and learning simple SAT test-taking strategies, it is not only feasible, but also very probable that you can easily raise your score by 300 points from your original practice test score.

In other words, if you take an SAT practice test and score around a 1400, then it is an easy goal to brush up on weaknesses and strategies and quickly raise your score to around a 1700.  If you initially score a 1600, you can quickly raise that average score to a 1900.  I could keep going, but you get the idea.

The Official SAT Guide Online focuses on the strategies needed to ace the SAT, as well as crash-courses for each category of the new SAT.

Is it better to guess or to skip an answer on the new SAT?
How long is the new SAT test?
What exactly is on the new SAT test?

K.i.m.

What is considered a bad, average, good, or great score on the new SAT?

The Official SAT Study Guide Online: What is considered a good SAT score?

To put things into perspective, the average cumulative score for the new SAT is 1538, but Harvard's admission statistics show that they accept students with scores between 2080-2370.  A not-so-great score would be anything 1300 and below.

Is a perfect score possible?  Yes, but it's obviously not easy.  It's estimated that about one-million students take the new SAT each year.  Out of those, about 20 receive a perfect score.  That is the equivalent of approximately .002% of all students that take the SAT scoring a perfect score.

Due to the new SAT's various forms and difficulty levels, you do not have to get every answer correct to score a perfect score.  The SAT creators know the differences in difficulties between the different tests.  This means that if you happen to take one of the easier tests, you will be expected to get more answer correct in order to score the same as persons that take the harder tests.

In reverse, this also means that if you are dealt one of the harder forms of the new SAT test, you will be allowed to make a certain amount of mistakes and still receive a perfect score.

So what score should I aim for when taking the new SAT?
Is it better to guess or leave an answer blank on the new SAT?
How can I raise my SAT average?

K.i.m.

What is the Max Score on the SAT?

The Official SAT Study Guide: What is the maximum you can score on the SAT?



The new SAT college entrance exam is divided between three categories: Math, Writing, and Critical Reading.


It is possible to score between 200 and 800 points for each of these categories.  Thus, the cumulative score for the complete SAT can range from 600-2400, making the perfect score for the SAT a 2400.


Related Questions About SAT Scoring:

Is it better to guess or leave an answer blank on the new SAT?
Do you have to get every answer correct to get a perfect score on the SAT?
What is considered a bad, average, good, or great score on the new SAT?
How can I raise my SAT average score?

K.i.m.