SAT Curve: Is It Real?

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Many high school tests are curved, but what about the SAT? Is the SAT curved? Can when or whom you take the exam with affect your final SAT score?

In this article, we'll answer all of your questions about the SAT curve. First, we'll closely examine whether there actually is an SAT curve and discuss how the SAT is scored. We'll then look at potential SAT curve trends and give you tips on how you can use typical SAT scores to your advantage.

 

 

Is the SAT Curved?

Contrary to what you may believe, there is no SAT curve. This means your SAT score will never be affected by how other test takers perform on the test. So even if everyone you took the SAT with were to perform poorly on it, the College Board would not raise everyone's SAT scores to account for the surplus of low test scores.

In other words, you will never receive an SAT score higher than what you actually earned on the test, regardless of whom you took the test with.

But if the SAT isn't curved relative to other test takers, how does its scoring system work? Is an 800 in Reading and Writing (R&W) on one SAT from the same as a perfect R&W score on another? Or is it more difficult to score highly on certain test dates?

First of all, it’s important to understand that every year there are multiple forms of the SAT exam. Which form you receive when you take the test is random. To account for slight differences in difficulty among SAT forms, the College Board uses a system known as equating. This process ensures that SAT scores are consistent across tests and will always indicate the same level of ability no matter when you take the SAT. So a 650 Math score on one SAT will always correspond to a 650 Math score on another SAT—even if one test contains easier Math questions.

In the College Board's words:

"This [equating] process ensures that no student receives an advantage or disadvantage from taking a particular form of the test on a particular day ;* a score of 400 on one test form is equivalent to a score of 400 on another test form."

*Emphasis mine.

Through this equating process, or the "SAT curves," the College Board can account for slight variations in difficulty among SATs to give test takers on different test dates the same opportunity to achieve their goal scores.

As a result, there is no single best time to take the SAT. Regardless of how easy or difficult a test may be, all SATs are equated so that getting a certain scaled score will always require the same amount of effort and level of ability.

So how is the SAT scored? And how is it equated? Read on to find out.

 

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How Do SAT Curves Work?

Before we get into the SAT equating process, let's do a quick recap of the scoring system. Both the R&W and Math scores use scales of 200-800 and combine to give you a composite score range of 400-1600. But you likely know there aren't 1,600 total questions on the SAT. So then how are these scaled scores calculated?

On the SAT, you earn one point for every question you answer correctly. (You do not lose any points for incorrect or blank answers.)

All of your correct answers combine to give you a raw score for each section. If you were to correctly answer 30 out of 44 Math questions, your raw Math score would equal 30. This raw score is subsequently converted into a Math section score (i.e., your final scaled score).

Similarly, on the Reading & Writing section, your raw score is the number of questions you answered correctly out of the 54 questions in that section.

But here's the caveat: raw scores on one SAT form will not necessarily convert into the same scaled scores on another. Why is there this discrepancy?

Each SAT varies slightly in content and difficulty, and so to account for these variations, the College Board translates raw scores into scaled scores using individual equating formulas for each test. This essentially means you'll never be able to know before you take the SAT how a raw score will convert into a scaled score.

That said, by looking at a score conversion table from an official SAT practice test, we can get a rough idea as to how the equating process works for each SAT. These conversion tables—which differ slightly with each test due to differences in equating formulas—show us how raw scores convert into scaled scores for different sections of the test.

The table below comes from the score conversion table used for the paper SAT practice tests.

 

SAT Practice Test Raw Score Conversion Chart

Raw Score Math Section Score Reading & Writing Section Score
0 200 200
1 200 200
2 200 200
3 200 200
4 200 200
5 200 200
6 200 200
7 200-220 200-210
8 200-230 200-220
9 220-250 210-230
10 250-280 230-250
11 280-310 240-260
12 290-320 250-270
13 300-330 260-280
14 310-340 280-300
15 320-350 290-310
16 330-360 320-340
17 330-360 340-360
18 340-370 350-370
19 350-380 360-380
20 360-390 370-390
21 370-400 370-390
22 370-400 380-400
23 380-410 390-410
24 390-420 400-420
25 400-430 410-430
26 420-450 420-440
27 430-460 420-440
28 440-470 430-450
29 460-490 440-460
30 470-500 450-470
31 480-510 460-480
32 500-530 460-480
33 510-540 470-490
34 520-550 480-500
35 530-560 490-510
36 550-580 490-510
37 560-590 500-520
38 570-600 510-530
39 580-610 520-540
40 590-620 530-550
41 600-630 540-560
42 620-650 540-560
43 630-660 550-570
44 650-680 560-580
45 670-700 570-590
46 690-720 580-600
47 710-740 590-610
48 730-760 590-610
49 740-770 600-620
50 750-780 610-630
51 760-790 620-640
52 770-800 630-650
53 780-800 630-650
54 790-800 640-660
55   650-670
56   660-680
57   670-690
58   680-700
59   690-710
60   700-720
61   710-730
62   720-740
63   730-750
64   750-770
65   770-790
66   790-800

Source: Scoring Your SAT Practice Test #1

 

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From this chart, you can see that, for almost all raw scores, a range of scaled scores are given. This range is generally 30 points for the Math section and 20 points for the Reading and Writing section. A range is given to account for the SAT curve. So, if you had a raw score of 40 on Math, that could get you a scaled score as low as 590, or it could get you a scaled score as high as 620 depending on how difficult the particular exam you took was compared to other SAT Math sections.

Ultimately, through this table, we can confirm that raw SAT scores do not consistently convert into the same scaled scores for each test. So while you can't know for sure how many questions you'll need to answer correctly on the SAT in order to get the scaled scores you want, you can use the table above to give yourself an idea as to how your raw scores may translate into scaled scores on test day.

 

 

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How Has the SAT Curve Changed Over Time?

Because the current digital SAT hasn't been around for long, and the data the College Board puts out is limited, we can't determine yet how much the SAT curves have changed with each testing year. That being said, we can look at some of the official score range tables for previous testing years to get a feel for how the current SAT might experience similar trends.

Score range tables show us how raw scores convert into scaled scores for entire testing years. For this analysis, we'll be looking at an ten-year difference using the 2005-2006 and 2015-2016 raw score to scaled score range tables.

 

2005-2006 SAT Score Range Table

Raw Score Critical Reading Raw Score Mathematics Raw Score Writing (Multiple Choice)
67 800        
65 790-800        
60 710-740        
55 660-680 54 800    
50 620-640 50 710-750 49 800
45 580-600 45 650-690 45 700-770
40 550-570 40 610-640 40 630-670
35 520-530 35 570-600 35 570-610
30 490-500 30 530-550 30 520-560
25 460-470 25 490-510 25 480-510
20 420-440 20 450-470 20 440-470
15 390-410 15 410-430 15 400-430
10 350-380 10 370-390 10 350-380
5 290-330 5 310-340 5 300-330
0 200-270 0 210-260 0 210-260
-5 200 -5 200 -5 200 

Source: SAT Raw Score to Scaled Score Ranges 2005-06

 

2015-16 SAT Score Range Table

Raw Score Critical Reading Raw Score Mathematics Raw Score Writing (Multiple Choice)
67 800        
65 790-800        
60 710-740        
55 650-680 54 800    
50 610-630 50 700-730 49 800
45 570-590 45 650-670 45 690-720
40 540-560 40 600-620 40 620-650
35 510-520 35 560-570 35 560-600
30 480-490 30 520-530 30 510-550
25 450-460 25 480-490 25 470-500
20 420-430 20 440-460 20 420-460
15 380-400 15 400-420 15 380-410
10 340-360 10 350-380 10 340-370
5 290-320 5 300-330 5 280-320
0 200-240 0 220-260 0 200-240

Source: SAT Raw Score to Scaled Score Range 2015-16

 

Let's start with the SAT Math curve. According to the data above, a raw Math score of 50 gave test takers as high as 780 in the 2023 testing year but only as high as 730 in the 2015-16 testing year. Similarly, if you look at the highest possible scaled score for each Math range, you'll find that the 2005-06 maximums are consistently (albeit only marginally) higher than those on the 2015-16 table. What this pattern tells us is that, on average, the Math sections on the 2005-06 SATs were slightly harder than those on the 2015-16 SATs. This is evidenced by the fact you typically needed to score more raw points in 2015-16 to get the same scaled Math scores in 2005-06.

But what about the other sections? On Writing, you used to be able to earn up to 49 raw points. In 2005-06, you could score as high as 770 with a raw score of 45 but only as high as 720 with the same raw score in 2015-16. And with the SAT Critical Reading curve, the 2005-06 and 2015-16 ranges are mostly the same, give or take 10 points.

Based on all of this information, then, what can we conclude about the SAT curve? The tables indicate that the number of questions you must answer correctly to get certain scaled scores has stayed roughly the same over the years. Generally speaking, the variations among scaled scores on each section are minimal—usually only 10- or 20-point differences at most. Therefore, these patterns—along with the fact that SAT percentiles hardly change each year—imply that the difficulty of the SAT has stayed relatively consistent over time.

 

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Using the SAT Curve to Your Advantage: 5 Do's and Don'ts

By now you may be wondering how the SAT curve can help you, personally. Below, we give you the do's and don'ts of what to do with this knowledge about the SAT equating system, so that you can give yourself a better shot at getting the SAT scores you need for college.

 

Do:

  • Use raw score conversion tables to estimate how many correct answers you'll need to get the scaled scores you want. Our recommendation is to first figure out your SAT goal scores. Once you have these scores, use any raw score conversion table from an SAT practice test to get a feel for the raw scores you'll need on each section in order to hit your (scaled) goal scores on test day. 
  • Take the SAT curve with a grain of salt. Although the equating process can be helpful, at the end of the day nobody (except the College Board!) knows the exact equating formula for the SAT you're going to take. So don't worry too much about raw scores and how they convert into scaled scores—just know that while you can use equating tables to help you estimate the number of correct answers you'll need, this data will never be 100-percent applicable to your particular test.

 

Don't:

  • Confuse the SAT equating process with a regular curve. As we mentioned before, there is no SAT curve—at least not in the traditional sense. On the SAT, how other test takers score has zero bearing on your score (though it does affect your SAT percentile). The only factor that influences your scaled score is the equating process, which varies with each SAT to ensure scaled scores represent the same levels of ability across tests.
  • Assume when you take the test will affect your score. Again, this is a common misconception. Many people believe certain tests are easier to score higher on than others due to variations in difficulty or different abilities of test takers. But this isn't true! The equating process used means you don't gain or lose any likelihood of attaining a certain score, no matter when or with whom you take the SAT. In other words, if you want a 1400, you can get a 1400 just as easily on one test form as another.
  • Try to game the system. Because you can't know for certain how your raw SAT scores will convert into scaled scores, it's impossible to use what we know about the equating process to cheat the system and guarantee yourself a higher score. Anyone who claims this is possible is flat-out wrong!

 

body_popcorn-1.jpgNow, sit back and grab your popcorn—it's time for the recap!

 

Recap: What Is the SAT Curve? How Does It Work?

So is the SAT curved? In short, no, the SAT isn't curved. However, the College Board does use an equating system, which ensures scaled SAT scores always correlate to the same levels of ability, no matter when you take the test.

Although there's no way of knowing for sure just how your raw scores will convert into scaled scores, you can use raw score to scaled score range tables from official SAT practice tests to help you approximate the number of questions you'll need to answer correctly on test day, so you can get the scaled scores you want. Unfortunately, these tables aren't a hundred percent reliable, as each test uses a different equating formula (that only the College Board knows).

Lastly, don't try to use the SAT curve to cheat the SAT. As long as you study hard and use high-quality resources, you'll be on your way to a high SAT score (and hopefully the college of your dreams) in no time!

 

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What's Next?

You understand how the SAT curve works—but what about the scoring system? Read our in-depth guide to how the SAT is scored to learn more about the equating process and how subscores and cross-test scores come into play.

Want to learn more about SAT scores? Find your goal score with our step-by-step guide and learn about the current averages. Once you're finished with those, check out my article on SAT scores for colleges to see what kinds of scores you'll need for popular schools!

If you enjoyed this article, you'll love my analysis of the ACT curve!

 

 



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About the Author
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Hannah Muniz

Hannah received her MA in Japanese Studies from the University of Michigan and holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Southern California. From 2013 to 2015, she taught English in Japan via the JET Program. She is passionate about education, writing, and travel.



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