SATs are a key factor in getting into colleges and also getting performance based scholarships. With that in mind, it might be important for you to understand how these scores are calculated.
First, you’re going to want to calculate your raw score. Your raw score is equal to the following formula:
The #questions you answer correctly – the # questions answered incorrectly * 1/4. Use the raw score calculator below to help
Raw SAT Score Calculator
Next you need to convert the raw scores to scaled score. This is a 200 to 800 point scale for each of the math, reading, and writing sections. To do this you will use the below table supplied by the College Board. This chart will vary slightly from test to test, but it can be a good baseline for determining your score.
You may be asking at this point, why are the scales for math different than for reading and writing. For reading and writing, the two raw scores are added together than multiplied by 10 to get the total score of the reading and writing.
For instance, if you got 58 questions right on math, you would have an 800 on that section. Now lets say you get a 32 and 35 for reading and writing respectively. Next add those together and you get 67. Now multiply that by 10 to get your total score of 670. Next add that score to you math score and you get 1470 as your final SAT Score. Now you have a better understanding of where your SAT score came from. As you can tell, the SAT is weighted heavily to math as compared to math and science.
It may be worth focusing on your math skills over your reading and writing in order to maximize performance. Some colleges will not even look at your individual scores and only look at your commulative score.