How Is the SAT Scored? Scoring Charts

One question that often comes up as you begin studying for the SAT is this: how on earth is this thing scored? 

This article breaks down how the SAT is scored, section by section. You will learn how your raw score becomes a scaled score, what adaptive scoring is, and how you can use that information to your advantage. 

This article is fully updated for the digital SAT!

How Is the Digital SAT Scored?

The SAT has two big sections—SAT Reading and Writing and SAT Math. You can earn a scaled score of between 200 and 800 points on each section, for a total of 1600 possible points on the SAT.

The scaled score of between 200 and 800 is converted from the raw score you earn on each section. Your raw score is simply the number of questions you answered correctly. Skipped or wrong questions do not add or subtract from your raw score.

So how do those raw scores become scaled scores? It happens through a process that College Board calls equating: “Equating ensures that the different forms of the test or the level of ability of the students with whom you are tested do not affect your score. Equating makes it possible to make comparisons among test takers who take different editions of the test across different administrations.”

In other words, equating is not curving your score relative to other test takers on the day you take the test. Equating controls for slight variations in different SAT dates to ensure that scaled scores represent the same level of ability across different test dates.

For example, a 600 on SAT Math in March has to represent the same ability level as a 600 on SAT Math in May. So if the May test turns out to be more difficult for students, the raw-score to scaled-score calculation will be adjusted so that a slightly lower raw score still nets a 600 scaled score.

Since the equating formula changes from test to test to keep the scores equal, there is no way to know for sure how a certain raw score will translate to a scaled score. However, the College Board releases raw score to scaled score ranges to give you an idea of what level of raw score you need to get to certain scaled score numbers.

What Is Adaptive Scoring?

When the SAT became digital, the College Board also implemented adaptive testing. With adaptive testing, an exam’s difficulty is modified in real-time based on a student’s performance. Questions on later sections of the exam depend on a student’s performance on previous sections of the exam. Test questions get harder if a student does well, and test questions get easier if the student doesn’t do as well. 

To adapt each student’s exam, the digital SAT is divided into modules of test questions. Both SAT Reading and Writing and SAT Math consist of two modules: Module 1 and Module 2. 

On both exam sections, students answer all of the questions in Module 1 first. Module 1 is made up of a mix of easy, medium, and hard questions. Based on the student’s performance on Module 1 questions, the exam then assigns them one of the following second modules: a set of questions that are generally more difficult than the questions in Module 1, or a set of questions that are generally less difficult than the questions in Module 1. 

What does this mean for calculating your SAT score? It makes it more complicated. The College Board generally keeps their exact score calculation procedures fairly secret, and this is especially true with the digital SAT. We do know that more challenging questions are weighted more heavily, meaning if you get a harder question right, it'll be worth more than a correct response on an easier question.

What this means in terms of exact calculations is still unknown. It does mean we can't offer an exact chart  for you to add up the number of questions you answered correctly on a digital SAT practice test and see what your final score would be. There just isn't enough information available. However, we can explain how the current version of the paper SAT (which is only available to students with a testing accommodation) is scored and how you can use that information to estimate your digital SAT score.

How Is the Paper SAT Scored?

Scoring the non-adaptive SAT, which is taken with pencil and paper, is more straightforward than scoring the digital SAT. (As a reminder, the paper SAT is only available to students with a testing accommodation.)

The first step is calculating your raw score. As mentioned above, your raw score on the paper SAT is simply calculated using the number of questions you answered correctly.

• For every question you answer correctly on the SAT, you receive one point.
• There is no penalty for guessing or skipping.

The maximum possible raw score varies by section (and depends on the total number of questions asked). For example, for the Reading and Writing section on the paper SAT, there are 66 questions total, so the maximum raw score is 66. If you answered all 66 questions correctly, you would have a raw score of 66. For Math on the paper SAT, there are 54 questions. (This is different than the digital SAT, which has 54 Reading and Writing questions and 44 Math questions.)

How Are Raw Scores Converted to Scaled Scores?

The raw score is converted into the scale score (on the 200 to 800 scale for each section) using a table. This table varies by SAT test date. The table is used as a way to make sure each test is "standardized". The table is a way of making "easier" SAT tests equal to the "harder" SAT tests. For instance, a raw score of 51 in Math might translate to an 800 on one test date and 790 on another.

You cannot know what the raw to scale score conversion will be in advance. While the exact raw to scale score conversion will vary by testing date, here is an example chart from one of the official College Board SAT Practice Tests:

Nonadaptive SAT Scoring Chart

So, if you answered 50 SAT Reading and Writing questions correctly on the paper SAT, you could expect a section score between 610 and 630 (although it may fall slightly outside that range, too). If you answered 45 questions on the Math section correctly, you could expect a score around 670-700. Add those scores together to get a total SAT score ranging from 1280-1330.

How To Use This Information

So, now that you’re an expert on how the SAT is scored, how can you use this information to your advantage? We have identified two key ways in which understanding SAT scores can help you make a smart study plan and improve your score.

#1: Develop Targeted Raw Scores

You can use College Board’s raw-to-scaled score tables to help develop a target raw score for each section. For example, if you want to crack 700 on Math, you should aim for at least a 45 on the paper SAT, though a point or two higher is safer.

Regardless of whether you're taking the digital SAT or not, you can still take the paper SATs and score them to get a sense of how you're doing on based on the score charts.

No matter what your score goals are, using the tables to find the raw scores you need helps make your studying more concrete and manageable. Knowing how many raw points you need gives you a much better sense of how to approach each section.

(By the way, if you're wondering what SAT score you should aim for you should read our guide to what a good SAT score is.)

#2: Guess Aggressively

Since the SAT doesn’t have a guessing penalty, make sure to answer every single question on every single section—even if it means answering randomly if you run out of time at the end of a module. At best, you’ll pick up an extra raw point or two, at worst, you won’t gain any. But you will not be hurt at all by guessing, so it’s worth the shot!

Remember: if you're leaving unanswered questions on your SAT answer sheet, you're basically throwing away free raw points.

What's Next?

If you don't consider yourself a math person, don't panic! We have the ultimate guide for SAT Math including practice problems and key strategies to help you do well.

By the way, we believe anyone can be a math person! To find out how, check out this article on getting perfect grades in high school from our resident Harvard alum. Not only does this guide have great advice for improving your grades, it also explains the concept of a "growth mindset" and why having this mindset is key to doing well, even in subjects you think you're not good at.

What SAT score should you aim for? We take you step by step through figuring out your SAT target score. This is a crucial step to be able to figure out the raw scores you need for each section and to make a comprehensive study plan.