Welcome to SAT PrepCritical Reading & Writing

Harrison High SchoolOpen House

Course TimelineCourse Section Dates

English January 6 - February 18

College Prep February 19 - April 1

Math April 2 - May 19

Final Exams May 20 - 21

Highly Recommended Text

College Board’sThe Official SAT Study Guide

List Price: $31.99New on Amazon: $17.78

Intro to the SAT• The SAT is offered at least seven times each year

When to Take the SAT• Most students take the SAT during their junior or senior year of

high school. At least half of all students take the SAT twice — in the spring as a junior and in the fall as a senior. Most students improve their score the second time they take the SAT.

Test Dates:• January 24th (deadline to register was Dec 29th)• March 14th (deadline to register is Feb 13th)• May 2nd (deadline is April 6)• June 6 (deadline is May 8th)

Extra Services

QAS (Question-And-Answer-Service) RECOMMENDED• Some dates offer the QAS service. By purchasing you will

receive (about six to eight weeks after your test date) a list of your answers, a copy of the multiple choice questions, the answer key, and scoring instructions. The cost is $18.00.

SAS (Student-Answer-Service) NOT RECOMMENDED• The SAS is another service that is offered, but it only reports

the answers, and not the correct answers.

Redesigned SAT

The Basics:• First implementation will be Spring 2016• Three sections: Evidence-Based Reading and Writing; Math;

Essay• 3 hour test, with added 50 minutes for essay• Scored on 400-1600 point scale • Essay scored separately

Additional Information:https://www.collegeboard.org/delivering-opportunity/sat/redesign/compare-tests

Components of the (Current) SAT

• The SAT contains 10 sections:• 3 sections of Critical Reading• 3 sections of Mathematics• 2 sections of Writing• 1 Essay section

But, Ms. Curley,…..that’s only NINE!

The Final (10th) Section is a test section that will not be counted for your score but be used by CollegeBoard as a trial section. You won’t be notified which one is this trial section.

Critical Reading (3 Sections)

• These sections are 20-25 minutes in length.

• The three sections have a total of 67 questions.

• Question types include:

• Sentence completion (Vocabulary)

• Difficulty goes from Easy to Hard

• Short Passage analysis

• Difficulty is in no particular order

• Long Passage analysis

• Difficulty is in no particular order

Mathematics (3 Sections)

• 20-25 minutes in length.

• Total of 54 questions.

• Question types include:

• Multiple choice

• Difficulty goes from Easy to Hard

• Student Produced Responses

• Difficulty goes from Easy to Hard

• Graphing calculators are permitted but not necessary

Writing (2 Sections & 1 Essay)

• 10 and 25 minute sections

• Total of 49 questions

• Question types include:

• Multiple choice

• Difficulty goes from Easy to Hard

• Essay counts as 1/3 of the writing score

• (25 minutes)

Quick Scoring Tips for the SAT

• The SAT is graded by awarding points as follows

• For a correct response you earn 1 point.

• For a blank response you earn 0 points.

• For a wrong response you lose 0.25 points.

• Guessing is only statistically beneficial if you can eliminate TWO of the five choices.

• All questions are awarded the same value regardless of difficulty so be sure to answer the easy questions before spending time on the hard questions.

How is the Test Scored?

Area Total # of Sections

Total # of MC Qs

Points

Critical Reading 3 67 200-800

Math 3 54 200-800

These two areas are relatively easy to score!

But…what about Writing?Area Total

# of SectionsTotal

# of MC QsPoints

Writing (MC) 2 49 20-80

ESSAY 1 -- 2-12

Scaled Score: 200-800

The raw scores for the multiple-choice writing section are converted to scaled scores that are reported on a 20-80 scale. Every SAT contains a 25-minute essay. The essay subscore is reported on a 2-12 scale. Each essay is independently scored from 1 to 6 by two readers. These readers' scores are combined to produce the 2-12 scale.

The multiple-choice writing section counts for approximately 70 percent, and the essay counts for approximately 30 percent of your total raw score, which is used to calculate your 200-800 score.

What’s a “Good” Score?

Perfect 2400

“High” 2100 and above

National Average 1500

“Low” Below 1100

But! It all depends on the school.

Intro to Reading Comp• 8 Short Reading Passage Questions: • Two single (isolated) passages followed by 2 questions each• One dual passage followed by 4 questions • Question difficulty is in no particular order

• 40 Long Passage Reading Questions: • One 400–500 word passage with 6 questions• One 500–600 word passage with 9 questions• One 700-–800 word passage with 12 questions• One dual passage with 13 questions• Question difficulty is in no particular order

• 2 Types of Questions: general & specific • (Specific will ALWAYS have line #s)

Multiple-Choice Writing: Overview

• First Section: 35 questions• 11 fixing sentences• 18 error-identification• 6 fixing paragraphs

• Second Section: 14 questions• 14 fixing sentences• Always occurs as Section 10