![]() You may have noticed that we skipped over mentioning essay scores in the “Interpreting Your SAT Score(s)” section – there’s a reason for this. To be safe, we recommend aiming for around the 75th percentile (1200) or higher.Īlso see: How to improve your SAT score Essay scores Keep in mind, though, that this score will likely not get you into more selective colleges. However, do not think that you have to score above the 90th percentile to have a “decent score.” Any score above the 50th percentile (1050) means you have scored higher than the majority of test-takers. This is not always true, but is a good general rule to note. Generally, the higher the acceptance rate for colleges, the lower SAT percentile rank you will need to meet. If you are aiming for higher-tier schools (think Boston University, NYU, etc.), but not “Ivy League” schools or its equivalents, you will likely need a score around the 90th percentile (1350) or above. If you are aiming for elite schools like Harvard, you will likely need a score at or above the 97th percentile (1460), as this is the 25th percentile for accepted students (for the 2020-2021 school year). For example, a student in the 79th percentile of test-takers scored higher than or equal to 79% of test-takers. If you’re not sure how percentiles work, a percentile rank is simply a number between 1 and 99 that represents what percentage of students whose scores fall at or below yours. Alternatively, you should be able to find what percentile your score is on your scoresheet (under “Nationally Representative Sample Percentile” and “SAT User Percentile”). So, you can interpret your SAT score now, but what’s a “good” score? Well, there’s no official threshold, but we can provide you with some percentiles to give you an idea of how you compare to other students. If you need any more help interpreting your SAT scores, the College Board provides this handy guide to help you out: Interpreting your SAT scores. Lastly, you may notice Cross-Test Scores for “Analysis in History/Social Studies” and “Analysis in Science.” These scores can range from 10 to 40 and the scores are determined from questions throughout the entirety of the test. ![]() These scores are simply telling you how well you performed in specific subcategories of each test section, so don’t worry too much about these (except to see what you may need to practice if you want to re-test). For each of these subscores, you can receive a minimum score of 1 and a maximum of 15. Similarly, for the Math section, the subscores are: Heart of Algebra, Problem Solving and Data Analysis, and Passport to Advanced Math. Namely, for the Reading and Writing section, the subscores will include: Command of Evidence, Words in Context, Expression of Ideas, and Standard English Conventions. When you receive your scores, you will also receive a set of subscores for each section. ![]() This is where the 400 minimum and 1600 maximum on the test come from. Now that we have the basics covered, how do you interpret your SAT score? It’s first important to note that each section (Evidence-Based Reading and Writing, and Math) is scored between 200 and 800. Thus, we highly recommend you answer each question on the SAT, even if you’re unsure about your answer (or if it’s a complete guess). Instead, you are only awarded points for questions answered correctly, and simply receive 0 points for incorrect answers or skipped questions. Luckily, there is no penalty for wrong answers on the SAT. On the other hand, the lowest score you could receive on the SAT is 400 (200 per section), which can occur only if you 1) miss every question or 2) don’t answer any questions. The highest score that you can get on the SAT is a 1600, and receiving this score would require you to score a perfect 800 on both the Evidence-Based Reading and Writing section and the Math section. Related: SAT reading section tips What is the highest score you can get on the SAT? Keep reading to find out what a “high” SAT score is, what score you should aim for, and how you can boost your score! That probably seems a little confusing right now, but we’ll go more into detail soon. When looking at your SAT scores, it’s more important to consider how they fit into the range of scores commonly accepted by your prospective colleges. While there are a set of scores people will often say are “high,” there are no official standards to go by. So, what is a high SAT score? Ultimately, there’s not one clear answer.
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