With the advent of the Internet that makes everything accessible for almost everyone just at the click of the mouse, the students of this highly advanced era are absolutely spoilt for choices, particularly when it comes to making informed decisions on educational opportunities available locally and globally.
Among the various opportunities to access post-secondary education in the USA, the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) opens up a wide range of educational vistas. The SAT is a standardised test administered across the globe seven times a year by the College Board, a non-profit organisation in the USA.
There are two sections in the revised version of the SAT: Math, and Evidence-Based Reading and Writing. There is also an optional Essay section. While the former is a single test with two internal components, namely a no-calculator portion and a calculator-allowed portion, the latter focuses on reading, writing and language. Below is the breakup of the current SAT.
Evidence-based reading: 52 multiple-choice questions, 65 minutes, passages or pairs of passages (literature, historical documents, social sciences, and natural sciences)
Writing and language: 44 multiple-choice questions, 35 minutes, grammar, vocabulary in context, and editing skills
Math: 58 multiple-choice questions broken into a 20-question no-calculator section and a 38-question calculator-allowed section, 80 minutes (25 minutes for the no-calculator section; 55 minutes for the calculator-allowed section), algebra I and II, geometry, and some trigonometry
Essay (optional): 1 essay, 50 minutes, read a passage and explain how the author builds a persuasive argument. It is highly recommended that the essay be taken as some schools require it. Moreover, other universities give due credence to it.
Scoring
Each section of the SAT is scored on a 200 to 800 point scale, making the perfect score of 1600. While the weight placed on SAT scores in admissions varies from college to college, the US educational institutions at the tertiary level consider the aspirants’ high school Grade Point Average (GPA), academic transcript, letters of recommendation, extracurricular activities, interviews, and statement of purpose as well.
Subject tests
Besides taking up the SAT, once known as SAT-Reasoning, with top-notch scores and producing scholastic and co-curricular credentials to secure admissions, the applicants can appear for the SAT Subject Tests to showcase their brilliant prowess in the respective area of study in an effort to help the admission panel decide on the application in their favour.
Although not all colleges in the USA mandate that the candidates take up the SAT Subject Tests to seek admissions, it would be worth doing so and sending the scores to the admission team of the college concerned to assist the applicants with choosing the most preferred area of study.
The author is a senior post graduate teacher in English at Suguna PIP School, Coimbatore.
