Greetings!!! Hello everybody! I am Ms. Signorello and in today’s lesson we will discover what the SAT is all about.

SAT Prep An Introduction

Who Designs the SAT? The SAT is designed by a company called ETS. ETS stands for Educational Testing Service. The SAT is taken by more than 2 million students every year!

Some things you should know about the SAT The SAT is a diagnostic test which is designed to measure the basic knowledge and skills you have learned in school. Students generally take this test at least 2 times.

Introduction First we will take a look at the structure of the SAT. The SAT is a timed test which will take 3 hours and 45 minutes to complete..

3 Areas of Testing The SAT tests knowledge in 3 areas: Math Critical Reading Writing

There are 10 sections The SAT contains 10 sections, 1 of which is not scored. It is used to as a guide to determine the validity of scores and the questions from that section may be used on future SAT tests.

Sections on the SAT There are 3 Critical Reading sections 3 Writing sections plus the Essay 3 Math sections.

How is your score determined? Test takers earn a point for each correct answer and lose a quarter point for each incorrect answer on the multiple choice questions.

Scoring Open-Ended Questions The open-ended questions are found in the math sections. Students will grid-in their answers. Points are awarded for correct answers. Unlike the multiple choice section, no points will be subtracted for wrong answers!

Scoring the Essay The essay portion receives a score between 2 and 12, however an essay left blank will get a score of 0!

Scoring Depending on the score you want to achieve, you may or may not need to complete all questions. There is a possible score of 800 on each area tested.

The BEST Score A maximum score of 2400 is possible!

Practice, Practice, Practice The best way to achieve your own personal high score is to practice taking the test over and over. Each time you practice, your test taking skills will improve!

Levels of Difficulty Questions on the SAT have a level of difficulty. They are categorized as easy, medium, or difficult. The Math section is the only section that follows a format where the questions are ordered from easiest to most difficult. There are techniques to determine the level of difficulty for the other test areas.

Signing up to take the test Most students will take the SAT during the spring of their junior year in high school or approximately a year and a half before they plan on entering college.

SAT and International Students Let’s take a look at College Board’s information for international students. International Students

Online access You can register online to take the SAT! Register for the SAT

The College Board Website The College Board has free practice questions on it’s website. Practice

On TEST Day! I will provide you with a “test day” checklist at the end of the course.

When you are taking the test… As you open up the test booklet and begin to take the test, here are some things you should know!

Writing in the test booklet USE your test booklet! You may write on any part of the test booklet. As we proceed through this course, I’ll be showing you how to utilize various techniques which require you to write in the test booklet.

Pacing It is very important to learn how to pace yourself through each section of the test. Again, I’ll be instructing you how to make the most of your time. Having an idea of how to use time to YOUR advantage will help alleviate stress during the test.

Reading Questions Carefully Some of the questions on the SAT are designed in a way that students may stop once they find a partial answer. This will always result in a wrong answer! Be sure to READ each question carefully!!!

A Brief Look at Technique! As we work through this course, we will explore how to use the techniques to help boost your score.

And some of those techniques include: Pacing and using time wisely Skipping questions Making an educated guess Eliminating wrong answer choices When to guess at an answer

What comes next? In our first formal lesson, we will begin with a review of math, learn some new vocabulary, explore a part of the critical reading section, and some interesting notes on essay writing.

References html?reasonAdded=Item_List Images: Microsoft Office