SAT Reasoning Test

SAT test or SAT Reasoning Test or Scholastic Aptitude Test or Scholastic Assessment Test is a standardized test used for college admissions in the USA. SAT is a world level standardized test administrated by collegeboard.
Important of SAT Test
SAT is one of the important test in USA that a student take during his entire life. A high test score can lead to an ivy league university or an low score can narrow down the number of option that a student have about universities and majors.
Purpose of SAT Test
According to collegeboard sat test and sat subject test actually check that is a student is well prepared for college level courses or not.In other word it can be said that it is a tool used by colleges and universities to measure student skill in particular subject areas. Remember that sat is not an competitive exam it is just a standardized test if you are well acquainted with your high school coursework than all you need is a few sat practice and study guide books and sat will be a piece of cake.
Structure of SAT Test
The three section of SAT test are
[1] maths(mathematics) reasoning section
[2] critical writing section
[3] critical reading section
Time of SAT Test
The new sat test is four hour plus long.The test contains 3 hours and 45 minutes timed section during which you will answer the test paper. There is also two 10 minute long break between the offered at the end of a section. But due to difference in administration, distribution of test material it takes up to 4 and a half hour.so simply speaking you will be tackling test papers for 3 hours 45 minutes and rest time is consumed in filling various bio data, breaks etc.
Report of SAT Test Scores
Each time you take test you will receive three separate test scores one for each section described above. Each section will be scored on a scale of 200-800 where 800 is maximum and 2400 is the perfect or the highest score you can get on a sat exam. Generally 500 is considered average score 50% student score above or below it.total average score is 1500. Scores are always reported in multiple of 10.
SAT Exam Percentile Rank
Along with your sat test score you also receive a percentile rank which tells what percentage of test taker have scored high or low from you. A 25th percentile means that 75%student have scored equal or less than you and 25% sat test taker have scored less or equal to you.
SAT Test Experimental Section or Equation Section
It is a section which doesn’t count toward your score but are used for research purposes by collegeboard usually to test new breed of sat questions. During the exam the candidate is not aware about which one is the experimenting section so do well on all of the sat section.
Type of Question
It depends on the section that you are taking each section has specific question format a good sat test preparation book will tell you in more detail but usually these are as follow
FOR MATHEMATICS SECTION
1-Grid-ins or student produce response
2-Multiple choice question
no mark is deducted for a wrong gridin question but 1/4th mark is deducted for multiple choice question to avoid random guessing and keeping the sat up to the standard that we all know it for.
FOR WRITING SECTION
1-Improving sentence
2-Identifying sentence errors
3-Improving paragraphs
CRITICAL READING
1-Sentence completion questions
2-Reading comprehension questions
3-Reading comprehension
Use of Calculator in SAT Exam
Calculator is allowed during test unless it fulfill the guidelines specified by collegeboard about the use of calculator.use of calculator can save lot of time during sat which would otherwise been wasted in calculations
and it also decreases the chances of making error if your calculator is healthy.both graphing calculator and scientific and as well as the regular plain calculator is allowed.to know more check the following

SAT ESSAY
Everyone has heard of the mighty sat essay.The 25 minute essay question falls in the category of writing skill it test your ability to present your view and demonstrate serious writing skill on the given topic.most of the essay questions are on general topic. Scoring-The essay is graded by two readers who will read it and judge it.this is called holistic scoring by collegeboard.each reader will grade you from a scale of 1-6 and the score from both reader are added and reported on a scale of 2 to 12.if the diffrence between the two reader is more than 1 then a third reader will evaluate your essay. warning:it is possible that no score is awarded to you in some condition.like a essay written with pen or sketch will be awarded score of 0.
REGISTER FOR SAT
There are basically two ways to register for sat.
ONLINE REGISTRATION
online registration can be done if you have a major credit card
Go to collegeboard.com(sat official site).
click on the register for sat link and follow as per as the website specify.remember to have a major credit card like visa, MasterCard. (please refer to collegeboard website for the type of card accepted for sat registration)
Note:you cannot register online if you are requesting Sunday testing or you have visual,hearing or learning disabilities.but can register through mail.
REGISTER BY MAIL
Get a copy of the sat registration bulletin from your high school office(for usa,us territories).For students from other countries like Asia, India, china they can grab a copy of sat registration bulletin from united states educational foundation office. or you could request to collegeboard or phone their collegeboard office in Princeton.mail registration can be paid by money order.please refer to collegeboard site for the payment mode details.
SAT FEES
It is advised to refer the collegeboard website to know about sat fees.but usually sat charges a basic registration fees which is the cost of exam.if you are from India or nearby territories then an surcharge also add up.then you will have to pay score reporting fees which is the fee required to report your scores to universities
charged on a per university basis.usually you can send your scores to four universities for free this is covered in your basic registration fee.There are other fees that are charged for certain addon if you want to use them like rush reporting etc.
FEE WAIVER
If you are a us citizen residing in USA, puerto rico, us territories then you might be eligible for a sat fee waiver details are provided on collegeboard website.This waiver also enables universities to exempt the application processing fee that they charge.In other words if you are eligible for sat fee waiver then you are also college application fee waiver.
RETAKING SAT
Scored low on or didn’t scored as per your anticipation don’t worry you can take sat second time or even third and fourth time until you are satisfied.And it shouldn’t affect your college application as universities consider only your highest or most recent scores.
How many time can you take sat in a given year?
The sat is offered 7 times a year for us nationals i.e students living in puerto rico, USA, and us territories. In the rest of the world it is offered 6 time in the month of January, May, June, October, November, December except march in march sat is available only in USA.
WORD OF CAUTION
Remember that you can’t take sat test and sat subject test on the same given test day.for example if you planning to appear for may test date you can’t take sat reasoning test and sat subject test on the same test day of may.you will have to wait for next month to give the subject test.
OFFICIAL SAT SITE: COLLEGEBOARD
*SAT, COLLEGEBOARD ARE THE TRADEMARK OF THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS.