Scoring on the SAT

There are 138 scored questions on the SAT (60 math and 78 verbal). Your raw score is the simple number of questions you got correct minus a fractional penalty for wrong answers. Here's how your raw score is calculated on the SAT:

* You get 1 point added to your score for each correct answer on the SAT.

* You lose a fraction of a point for every wrong answer (excepting Grid-ins which have no wrong answer penalty).

The totals are added up for all the math and verbal questions to produce a raw score. The raw score is then converted into what is called a scaled score. The scaled score is the score you probably associate with the SAT-- that number between 200-800.

Raw to Scaled SAT Score Conversion Table (the numbers vary slightly from test to test)

Take a look at this table. Depending upon the score you are shooting for, this may come as a piece of good news. For instance, if you are aiming for a score of 600, you can leave 20 questions blank, get 6 or so questions wrong, and you'll still manage to get the score you wanted.