SAT scores

 

This is the score you know. Your raw score will be fed into a computer with the raw scores of every student around the world who has just taken the same test as you. The numbers are crunched into a Bell Curve and your score is “scaled” to the national average.

 

On average, 1 raw point translates to about 10 scaled points.

 

In theory, each of the five answer choices, A, B, C, D & E, will be the correct answer about 1/5th of the time. So, let’s say you answer all 100 questions by filling in C every single time. You’d get about 20 right, which would give you 20 raw points, and 80 wrong, which, if you do the math (80 x ¼ = 20) subtracts 20 raw points. You end up with a big fat 0. The whole point of this is to keep you from randomly guessing.

 

However, the moment you can eliminate one of the five answer choices, the odds suddenly swing in your favor. The SAT rewards those of you who figure out how to maximize your scoring potential.

 

What is a good score? We hear this one every day, and the truth is, the answer to this age-old question depends entirely on your goals. While the national average is about 1500, the average score of an incoming UCLA student hovers around 2000. It’s best to have some sense of your college goals before you begin the test-prep process… knowing your “goal” score can drastically influence the most effective method of preparation.