How To Calculate SAT Score? Score Table and Main Tips

SAT score is the one-step aspect that determines college admissions and the career ahead. There is a bit of confusion when it comes to understanding SAT scores to understand which is the right college to apply to and evaluate whether it is a good result to go.

How to calculate SAT Score?

To Answer this,  The College Board has specific principles that they follow in evaluating the SAT score and zeroing into the final number. Here are those steps that would help to understand how the scores are calculated: 

1. Get to know your Raw Scores: The raw score is the number of questions you have answered correctly in the totality of the exam. The students need to note two important aspects regarding this: 

• One mark will be awarded for every correct answer given 
• There is no negative marking for the wrong answer 

The overall raw score differs by each section and is dependent on the individual sections such as Reading and Math. For example, if the reading test has 52 questions, the maximum raw score one can get is 52.  There are 58 questions in Math and 44 multiple-choice questions in writing.  

The essay section is additionally graded on a scale of 2-8. It is to be noted that the essay section is optional the student can either choose or omit it. 

 The essay score is not added to the SAT composite score is for 1600.  

2. Know the way of converting raw scores to composite scores: Using a table, the raw scores can be easily converted into the composite score  

Here is a rough table of the way Raw scores can be converted to Composite scores: 

While the exact raw-to-scale score conversion will differ depending on the testing date, here is an example chart from one of the official College Board SAT Practice Tests: 

Raw Score	Math Section Score	Reading Test Score	Writing and Language Test Score
58	800	–	–
57	790	–	–
56	780	–	–
55	760	–	–
54	750	–	–
53	740	–	–
52	730	40	–
51	710	40	–
50	700	39	–
49	690	38	–
48	680	38	–
47	670	37	–
46	670	37	–
45	660	36	–
44	650	35	40
43	640	35	39
42	630	34	38
41	620	33	37
40	610	33	36
39	600	32	35
38	600	32	34
37	590	31	34
36	580	31	33
35	570	30	32
34	560	30	32
33	560	29	31
32	550	29	30
31	540	28	30
30	530	28	29
29	520	27	28
28	520	26	28
27	510	26	27
26	500	25	26
25	490	25	26
24	480	24	25
23	480	24	25
22	470	23	24
21	460	23	23
20	450	22	23
19	440	22	22
18	430	21	21
17	420	21	21
16	410	20	20
15	390	20	19
14	380	19	19
13	370	19	18
12	360	19	17
11	340	17	16
10	330	17	16
9	320	16	15
8	310	15	14
7	290	15	13
6	280	14	13
5	260	13	12
4	240	12	11
3	230	11	10
2	210	10	10
1	200	10	10
0	200	10	10

The reading and writing sections of SAT scores are separately graded with raw scores and these can be converted based on the above table. They are added together and multiplied by ten to give a final Evidence-Based reading and writing score that ranges between 200 and 800. 

3. Get hold of the scaled scores and sum them up: Usually, the college board gives a comprehensive report on the number of correct and incorrect answers to give a better idea about the evaluation.  

Example: For the Reading Writing and Language sections on this SAT score report, this student’s raw scores were 52 and 42. These raw SAT section scores scaled to section scores of 40 (Reading) and 39 (Writing and Language), which translated to a 790 Evidence-Based Reading & Writing Score: 

(40 + 39) x 10 = 790 

The sum it up, the total SAT score can range from 400 to 1600 after calculating in the aforementioned way. It is always better to first calculate the raw score, and convert it to a composite score to get the final result. 

Is there something like a good and bad SAT score?  

The answer to this question is highly dependent on the student’s aspirations. For a prestigious IVY league university like Harvard, the student should aim at a minimum of 1500 out of 1600 to secure a seat. However, a university like Michigan would accept a score of 1200-1300 as well. So, know your priorities and your target university before planning to prepare for a perfect SAT score.  

The score that falls into 30% of graduating high school students is generally considered to be a good SAT score.  The average SAT score out of the overall US is around 1120. 

One must also note that SAT score is evaluated using percentiles as well. A percentile score is a comparative score where the average student’s score is compared to the highest-scoring student’s score for that examination. So it is important to be aware of percentile scores as well to get a better idea of evaluation. 

Is it difficult to get a high score on SAT? 

This can be a subjective question because a high score is dependent on various factors. It mainly depends on how well the student is prepared, manages time, and how well the student has performed in the mock and practice tests. Getting into an SAT online course will be a great way to start with. And educational experts say that by starting prep early, the chances of getting a higher SAT score will increase. 

Here are the three main tips to follow for scoring high on SAT: 

1. Good study material: Get hold of good study material that is not vast- but informative and concise. The students can often get confused and overwhelmed with information overload when it comes to preparation. Take the help of teachers, senior students, and mentors to know the right study material to start with. 
2. Right guidance: Joining an SAT course will not only give you experienced guidance about preparation, but also gets you closer to understanding how others are preparing, and the well-proven strategies for cracking the examination. 
3. Practice tests are mandatory: No matter how well you are adept in conceptualization, doing practice tests is mandatory and an unavoidable step to excelling in SAT. Get hold of practice tests, and previous year’s papers and be consistent in practicing them- to get a better idea of evaluating yourself in the exam.  

The Final Word: 

The SAT score calculation can get a little complex at first look but by following the principles, it can be easier to understand and brings a good evaluation to the student. It will also determine what the student can do next- by understanding the SAT score.  

Frequently Asked Questions