Five Things You Ought To Know About The SAT Test

Millions of teenagers take the SAT college entrance exam every year. Many of them stress about the SAT extremely, studying madly and taking prep courses to help them get good scores. Others couldn’t care less about it, taking it only because it is expected of them. The SAT is a rite of passage for many high schools students, but there are many interesting things about the test that most are unaware of. Here is a look at five things you ought to know about the SAT test.

1. Students Who Take College Preparatory Curriculums Score Better than Those Who Don’t
High school students who take the college preparatory courses in their high schools get better average score on the SAT than those who don’t. The college preparatory curriculum includes four years of English, three years of math, three years of sciences and three years of history/social sciences. Students who follow this course schedule during high school score an average of 143 points higher than those who don’t. In fact, if your child didn’t take the college preparatory courses, you can still look into having them take a SAT practice test online as it’ll help prepare them for what’s coming.

2. The SAT Shows Students Are Not Ready for College
There is a huge gap between high school and college classwork that most students are not prepared for when they arrive. This is borne out by the results of the SAT scores. Using these scores, the test makers are able to determine that only 66 percent of students are ready for college English classes, and the numbers drop off drastically from there. The percentage of high school students ready for college reading is 52 percent, math is 42 percent, and science is only 30 percent. The percentage of students who are ready for college classes in all four areas is only a shocking 25 percent.

3. The SAT Is Not a Requirement to Go to College
Students do not have to take the SAT or its sister exam the ACT to get into college, In fact, there are nearly 900 colleges and universities across the country that do not require students to submit scores from a college aptitude test. Among these are included some of the most prestigious colleges in the country. In fact, more than a third of the top liberal arts universities in the nation do not require potential students to submit a college entrance exam score to be considered for admission.

4. Lots of Kids Take the SAT
In fact, more the 1.65 million people took the SAT exam in 2011, which set an all-time record.

5. A Perfect Score on the SAT is 2400
Many adults who took the SAT in past years remember that the perfect score on an SAT used to be 1600. In the old version of the SAT, there were only two sections. There was a math section and a verbal section, and each of them had a maximum possible score of 800 points for a total of 1600 possible points. Now, there are three different sections. There are now sections for math, critical reading and writing. Each section is still worth 800 points for a total of 2400 points possible.

As you can see, the facts about the SAT are nearly as complex as the test itself. The SAT is one of those cultural touchstones that everyone is aware of but few really understand. After reading this, you know a lot more than the average person about the SAT.