7 ms·

I missed 1 question when i took the SAT 6-7ish years ago, resulting in the second highest possible score. It made me a US Presidential Scholars Medal Program Ca

• js2 7y ago
  Thank you for the comment. Do you have any idea which question you missed?
  • IMAYousaf 7y ago
    Hi. Yes. The only section I did not get a perfect on was writing. I missed 1 of the multiple choice questions. I always believed that the grammar choices offered were a bit dubious but it is what it is. Totally possible and probably likely that I just got some grammar rule wrong, though I’d like to think that the test was wrong :)
    • the_watcher 7y ago
      Am I misremembering how the test is scored? My recollection was that score == writing score + math score + verbal score, with each section being worth 800. If you only missed a question on the writing, shouldn't your score have been at least 2300, and your 1600 scale score would have been 1600?
      • IMAYousaf 7y ago
        I believe so. The curve on the test, if that is the right word here, is a bit random. Sometimes one could miss 2 or 3 questions and still have an 800. My Math and Verbal Scores were 800 each. The one question I missed in Writing gave me a 790 out of 800, but in reality it was 590 out of the 600 allocated towards the multiple choice questions, with the "optional" writing section weighing in for the other 200 points. This is a gross oversimplification and could be totally wrong but that was what my score was.
        • the_watcher 7y ago
          Yes, I understand that, but that still doesn't seem to add up right to me. You seem to have gotten a perfect score on the optional writing section, so let's just ignore that since it would only increase your overall score. Your score was 800+800+590 out of 800+800+800, which is 2190/2200. Just applying the same ratio to 1600 gets 1592 on the 1600 scale. If I adjust for the fact that the 1600 scale is really "the same math test and writing+verbal combined into one score), I get 800 + (1390/1400)*800 = 1594. Right? I know this isn't important, I'm just trying to understand where my math is breaking down.
          • IMAYousaf 7y ago
            I don't think that everything scales 1:1. I took this from the College Board website: "Your raw score is converted to a scaled score of 200 to 800 points, the score you see on your score report. We use a process that adjusts for slight differences in difficulty between various versions of the test (such as versions taken on different days). We do this to make sure there’s no advantage in taking the test on a particular day. A score of 400, for instance, on one day’s test means the same thing as a 400 on a test taken on a different day—even though the questions are different." https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/sat/scores/how-sat-is-scored https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/sat/scores/how-sat...
• dharmon 7y ago
  I only did alright on the SAT, but I smoked the GRE by doing something similar. The Kaplan book had a CD with a few practice tests. I think I did 2. If for no other reason, they are super useful for figuring out how to pace yourself. The math section was (is?) easy for most people on this site. This seems the norm because the score/percentile relationship was incredibly high. The English section kills people. My pro-tip is, in the same Kaplan book, they have a list of the most common words. I made flashcards for the top 100, and I'll be damned if like 80 of them didn't show up on the test. I imagine this is similar for the SATs.
  • bmiller2 7y ago
    In grad school, we took an unofficial survey of GRE verbal and quant scores. Far and away, the non English speaking students scored significantly higher than natives. Anecdotally, The non native speakers actually studied in that way you describe, and the native speakers assumed the fluency would carry its weight instead
    • IMAYousaf 7y ago
      Hi. Thanks for sharing this. I suspect that would be true for foreign students within programs across the board in the US, because you tend to learn as an outsider through an application of “rigor” and more raw memorization than higher order types of learning. I’m speaking this from experience as a foreigner who moved to the US early on. I’ve always doubted many higher order learning methods precisely because they didn’t ever distill the discipline to work better...
  • IMAYousaf 7y ago
    Hi. Thank you for sharing your experience. I am about to take a GRE myself so this type of insight is very helpful. I too remember making a lot of flashcards for the SAT. I had a rather relaxed approach to studying but the consistency over time made it seem like everything I learned showed up one way or another on the test, especially vocal words.
    • dharmon 7y ago
• bsanr2 7y ago
  I did 2160 out of 2400 (1490 on the 1600 scale), which got me Merit Commended and an Achievement Scholars Candidacy. No test prep, save for basic instructions and having taken the PSAT twice. AFAIC I bombed the math portion and would have scored over 700 if I'd taken it a second time. I was a decent student, but nothing special. That was a decade ago. Currently working in a big chain retailer's warehouse for $17/hr. Accordingly, I think the SAT is a bit of a farce. Like BMI, it's essentially worthless without context that, assessed prudently, could advise stakeholders on its own, without the test score. Likewise, it obfuscates the true nature of the strengths and weaknesses of the tested. With a 9xth percentile score, are you like me, possessing a high natural aptitude but dealing with the fallout of a mental health issues, a dysfunctional home life, and the fundamental difficulties of being black in American society? Are you a intellectually-middling child of wealthy parents who can afford to shove test prep down your throat until you "get it," and then provide for your professional needs post-college? Or are you a hard-worker who studied diligently, only to exit undergrad to find that your options are severely limited by your debt load? This is all kind of beside the point, however. We get stuck in this quagmire of discussing how best to facilitate the sorting and tracking of our youth into will succeed/won't succeed boxes, when we should be working to assure success across the board. Why are some American colleges (entrance into which is the aim of taking the SAT in the first place) excellent, and others not? Why the acceptance of such disparities in educational quality?
  • IMAYousaf 7y ago
    Hi. This was very nicely written. I certainly understand that thinking regarding the big picture. However, IMO, the SAT adds another variable for contextualization of these inequalities in the American education system, regardless of if the SAT itself is unequal. Structural inequality in higher education is a whole different ballgame, and is much more complex. As someone who went to a public college, and then got to see what life was like at Ye Olde Ivy colleges and schools like Stanford/Berkeley, it's pretty apparent that there were some structural decisions from the top down that facilitated that success outside of even the economic differential between schools/programs. Very tough things worth thinking about. I don't think that people treat standardized testing as some all telling oracle, and if they do, I believe that they're mistaken. I remember that our school offered something called the PLAN? which was like the PSAT for the ACT. The career advice it gave me based on my results was that I'd be good at landscape work. I've never defined myself by my test taking capabilities but I will admit I always felt a little affronted upon reading everything from the movements that seek to de-legitimize all standardized testing. I felt that something I specifically chose to gamify and study for was being increasingly seen as a negative signal. Life is tough man. I hope people succeed regardless of if they even go to college or not. With that in mind, I also hope that perhaps there can be a cultural shift that facilitates scoring better on aptitude testing because perhaps that may be a signal about our society, even if that is not a perfect signal.
• BeetleB 7y ago
  >I never took any prep course. I always was of the mindset that the only value they provided was forced practice. I never bought that they taught secrets of test taking. ... >Secondly I bought a Kaplan book which just had 12 tests in it for $20. Did the Kaplan book not have "secrets" of test taking? Mine did, and one of them was actually useful: When you have an "analogy" question, where they give you an A:B, and then ask which of the five choices have the same analogy. What do you do if you don't know the meaning of both A and B? Well, of the five choices, you will find two that are identical as far as analogies go. As an example, if you have two choices: cat:kitten dog:puppy You know neither of these two can be the answer because there would be no reason to pick one over the other. Then you'll have another choice with absolutely no relationship (e.g. pen:donkey). You can eliminate that immediately. So now you're down to two choices. Pick one randomly. But yeah - overall I didn't learn any other big secrets - other than the obvious one of working backwards from the answers for many quantitative problems (don't solve an equation for x - just start plugging them in!).
  • IMAYousaf 7y ago
    Hi. I think that the quotations around the secrets is totally warranted. I was trying to state that I always thought that the "secrets" that many test prep courses tried to sell to parents/students were just question design, and not actually some behind the scenes insight. Do you really disagree with that? That's what a lot of the marketing seems to be focused on. I felt like question exposure alone got me those same insights, and in fact, the official SAT book rather explicitly lists those things out. Most people don't read the annoying small text that accompanies the books that spells out a lot of those strategies. Instead they'd rather pay someone a lot of money to tell that to them :)
    • BeetleB 7y ago
      I myself did not take any SAT prep courses, so I can't disagree. My point was that some small tricks do exist, and most test takers are not aware of them. Knowing those tricks will give you a slight advantage. For me, those prep courses would likely be a poor value. However, I likely am not in the demographic who would benefit most from them. There are plenty of people out there who haven't learned how to learn from a book, and so having someone teach them will result in better scores. I would have thought such people will likely struggle in college, yet my grad school had quite a few of them. I guess they found a way to compensate. The trick I mentioned was not in the official SAT book.
• burnte 7y ago
  I'm 100% convinced there is no "secret" to test taking, however there are a hundred "tactics" and they apply variably to each person. I was asked to take the SAT when I was 12 as part of the Johns Hopkins Gifted Talent Search (although back then I seem to recall it just being the Talent Search), this was back in 1990. I got a 790 on the verbal and 590 on math. When I took it "for real" in high school, I got an 800 on verbal and 690 on the math. I took one PSAT that I was required to take by the school, I never read any books, I never did practive tets at home, etc. I've ALWAYS been a "good test taker" in that they don't intimidate me at all, no nerves, etc. For me there's no trick to doing well on a test other than knowing the material. I have friends who are very, VERY smart, and terrible test takers. My wife is very smart, and while she's good on tests, she needs to prep a fair amount to feel ready. Other people get nervous, or freeze, etc. It's all about how a person deal with the situation of a test, and you have to come up with a psychological plan for that. Aside from that, you either know the information or you don't.
  • madengr 7y ago
    I did the same for JHU, and got good enough scores to get into their program. They wouldn’t let me in because I missed the age cutoff by 1 month. Screw JHU.
    • burnte 7y ago
      Seems like that rule should have been applied BEFORE you took the test, so as not to taunt you.
      • madengr 7y ago
        I think it was the issue of taking the SAT at 12, but turning 13 before the program. I don’t recall, it was almost 40 years ago. I just know my mother was pissed.
        • burnte 7y ago
          Heh, mine was 30 years ago, I hear ya!
• alistairSH 7y ago
  You seem to think the amount of prep you did was minimal. I'd wager it's more than most students do. It's certainly well in excess of anything I did to prepare and while my score was lower, it was more than enough (along with grades, activities, etc) to get me into my state's top public university. The test prep centers do basically what you did - they just cost more and hold the student accountable (in as much as the student spends time at the center and presumably works through the test exercises).
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• disjhshava 7y ago
  My story matches yours almost exactly. Didn't take a class, did a bunch of practice tests, got an almost perfect score. I agree that confidence is very important, and aptitude matters too (otherwise everyone who took a class would get a 2400). Commonly-given wrong advice is about guessing. You should never leave a question blank. Prior to 2016, guessing had an EV of 0, so if you had any hint that any of the answers are better or worse than chance, you should guess. I heard advice like "only guess if you can eliminate two answers", which is clearly wrong. Now they got rid of the penalty for wrong answers, so guessing has positive EV even if you have no information at all.
  • IMAYousaf 7y ago
    I believe that the EV just changed recently though right? Because when I took the SAT, there was an incorrect answer penalty that now doesn't exist.
    • disjhshava 7y ago
      I ninja-edited my post. Previously the EV for uniform guessing was zero, because the points value for all the answers (1, -.25, -.25, -.25, -.25) summed to 0. Now the EV is positive because they got rid of the -.25 penalty. To make things more complicated: if you were gunning for a high score in the old system, it was even more important to guess, because your partial points could get rounded up.
• applecrazy 7y ago
  Got an 1540/1600 on the SAT and a full score on the PSAT. I’m now in college on a National Merit Scholarship because of my PSAT score. Today, it’s even easier to study for the SAT. Khan Academy offers free, official prep to every single student and 8 official practice exams to take. I also used free practice tests made by other companies to study, too. The only purchase I made for SAT prep was a $20 book from Kaplan that had 1000 practice questions and helpful (guessing) strategies. The test nowadays seems to be a socioeconomic equalizer-those who can’t afford a book or a computer can always go to the public library and get the same resources. The only real reason anyone would pay for test prep classes is because it forces you to practice at regular intervals. Test prep classes also help students revise material that they may have been rusty on, which again you could do online nowadays. That’s why things like the Collegeboard adversity score seem absurd to me. Anyone, really, can afford to do well on the SAT. Now, of course, the actual educational value of the test is another question altogether.