Mastering the Format of the SAT

SATThe following words when spoken by a teacher are simply dreadful to the ears of the stereotypical slow test taker: “5, 4, 3, 2, 1, pencils down class!”

Individuals like yours truly understand the agony that comes from having several blank questions and zero time left during a standardized test. Especially when it comes to the SAT, time is of the essence and a proper strategy is needed to maximize the little time allotted.

While the importance of tips, strategies and practice cannot be stressed enough, there is a necessary first step that is often pushed aside.

As simple and obvious as the following may seem, it is absolutely essential to completely understand the format of the SAT.

By completely understand, I mean that students need to really feel comfortable with the number of questions, the number of questions in each section and the type of question being asked. Let’s start from the beginning…

The SAT is broken down into three equal subjects, each worth a maximum of 800 points.

These are Critical Reading, Writing and Math. Each of these sections is broken further into subsections and this information comes directly from the website of The College Board, which is responsible for the creation and administration of the SAT.

Critical Reading

  • Two 25-minute and one 20-minute section comprised of multiple choice questions
  • 67 total questions with 48 being responses to passages and 19 questions that ask the student to choose a response that completes a sentence
  • Reading passages are taken from the following subject fields”

(For additional information on the composition of the Critical Reading section, click here for details from The College Board)

Math

  • Two 25-minute and one 20-minute section comprised of multiple choice questions
  • 54 total questions with 44 being multiple choice and 10 being responses that require the student to solve the problem without the benefit of options to choose from.

(For additional information on the composition of the Math section, click here for details from The College Board)

Writing

  • 50 total questions, one being an essay and 49 being multiple choice questions
  • The essay requires a response in 25 minutes and the 49 multiple choice questions are broken into a 25-minute section and one 10-minute section.

(For additional information on the composition of the Writing section, click here for details from The College Board)
With this aforementioned information ingrained, it becomes a lot easier to study the concepts, material and then ultimately develop a strategy for the test.

Practicing the individual sections and utilizing a stop watch to work on timing is an excellent way to increase confidence too. We further explore strategies for taking the SAT test here.