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The SAT is administered by the College Board. SAT is a standardised test that is required to be taken by students seeking admission in undergraduate schools. The test has been developed to evaluate the written, verbal and mathematical skills of the candidates.
Individuals applying to undergraduate schools in order

to pursue any course in most of the countries are required to take the SAT. If the student is looking to get admission to a particular course, s/he can take the SAT subject tests to show his knowledge and understanding of that particular subject. Subject tests are offered in areas like
Literature, History, Mathematics,
Sciences and Foreign Languages.

Test Types
SAT is of two types:
SAT – The SAT exam tests the knowledge of reading, writing and math — subjects which are taught every day in high schools. It is a 3 hour
45 minutes long test. Most students start preparing for the SAT during their class 11, and take the exam during their class 12. SAT doesn’t test logic or abstract reasoning; it tests the skills students learn at school, which are important and will stay with the student for a lifetime. 2

Subject Test – Subject tests are hour-long, content-based tests that allow students to showcase achievement in specific subject areas where they excel. These tests are in the following areas: English,
History, Mathematics, Science, and Foreign Languages. Some colleges might ask students to take subject tests or might not. Students should research properly to determine whether the colleges they are applying to require subject tests as part of the application.

Institutes accepting SAT

SAT is accepted across almost all the undergraduate colleges in the US. Also many universities offering UG courses across the globe accept SAT scores. Countries like US, UK,
Australia, Canada, Singapore etc. accept these scores.
Students should visit official website of the Universities and colleges of their choice to know the average acceptable scores of SAT for various courses.

How to register
There are two ways you can register for the SAT exam in
India.
1. Register Online
• Create a student profile here • Choose test date and test center (Sunday testing and option to choose test center closer to home is not offered)
• You will receive immediate registration confirmation • Pay the exam fee through credit/debit card or online funds transfer. • Registration deadlines are typically about three to four weeks before a test date.
• Late registration deadlines are typically about two to three weeks before a test date, and registering late will incur a late fee.

2. Register by Mail
• You first need ‘The
Student Registration
Guide for the SAT and
SAT Subject Tests’, which is available at schools. • The guide includes a registration form and return envelope.
• The form needs to be sent along with a demand draft.
• The local representative of
SAT in India is the
USEFI (US Educational
Foundation in India).
The mailed forms will be directed to their regional office.

Eligibility
Criteria
There are no particular eligibility criteria to sit for SAT. You need to be an enrolled high school student, with intent of applying to foreign undergraduate universities. SAT Price
The application fee for
SAT is $52.50, plus $42 as the Non-U.S. Regional
Fee (approx. total – INR
5500-6000). Basic Subject
Test fee for each subject test is an additional $26
(INR 1500-2000).

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Test Pattern

SAT has three sections, namely, Math, Critical Reading and Writing. There is an optional section which is called the experimental section, which has one 25 minute long question from either Math, reading, or grammar section. Students are not scored on this section.
Subject

Critical Reading

70 minutes

70 minutes

Two 25-minute sections Question
Types
44 MultipleChoice

One 20-minute section Math

Total Length

Subsections

10 Grid-Ins

Two 25-minute sections 19 Sentence
Completions

One 20-minute section Writing

60 minutes

One 25-minute student-written essay
One 25-minute grammar section
One 10-minute

Score Range
200-800

200-800

48 Reading
Comprehension
18 Identifying
Sentence

200-800

Errors
25 Improving
Sentences
6 Improving
Paragraphs

grammar section
Experimental

25 minutes

One 25-minute section Math, Reading, or not scored

Grammar section
Total

4

3 hours 45 minutes 10 sections

600-2400

SAT Scoring

Each section of the SAT (critical reading, mathematics and writing) is scored on a
200-800 point scale, for a maximum total score of 2400. Students also get two ‘sub-scores’ on the writing section: a multiple-choice score from 20 to 80, and an essay score from 2 to 12.
SAT test scores are valid for five years
Percentile
99+
99
98
97
93
88
81
72

Score on the
2400 Scale
>2280
>2200
>2140
>2100
>1990
>1900
>1800
>1700

after the testing year in which you tested.
SAT subject test scores are measured on a scale of 200 to 800. There are additional sub-scores reported on a 20-80 scale. The scores of a student reflect on how he/she compared with other students who took the test.
Percentile
61
48
36
24
15
8
4
2

Score on the
2400 Scale
>1600
>1500
>1400
>1300
>1200
>1090
>990
>890

SAT Syllabus
1. The critical reading section includes reading passages and sentence completions. 2. The writing section includes a short essay and multiple-choice questions on identifying errors and improving grammar and usage.
3. The mathematics section includes topics like arithmetic operations, algebra, geometry, statistics and probability. 5

How to prepare

There are two ways students prepare for SAT: Self-study and Coaching classes. Both these options have unique benefits and no one method of studying is better than the other. These two methods can’t be compared as they both serve different audiences.
If money is a consideration, then self-study is the better option. You could save money on personal tuitions and classes, but you need to keep in mind other factors too.
To be able to study on your own effectively, you need a good resource of books and study material, along with

motivation and self-discipline.
If time is a consideration, then coaching classes are the better option. You will have access to a better resource of study materials, and will have a team of experts guiding you. Your time will be better managed as being regular to classes will become part of your routine.
Also, being around other students will increase your motivation levels.
To choose the best method of study you first need to look at your criteria, whether it is money or time, and decide accordingly. Admit Card
Candidate can download and print the admit card from the official website.
Candidate must produce the admit card while appearing for the exam.
When you receive your admission ticket, check it carefully to make sure your identifying information, address and score recipients are correct.

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Results
Test results are typically released within 4-5 weeks of the test administration, and can be viewed online. Students can choose to send their test scores to colleges of their choice. They also have the option to cancel their test score, or withhold them from being sent to certain colleges. SAT Stats
For SAT, like other exams, score averages differ for every subject.
A science student will need higher marks in Mathematics and an Arts and
Humanities student will need higher marks in Reading and Writing section.
Before starting with a preparation strategy, you need to identify what is a good SAT score for your program. Here is a table which will give a rough idea about section averages.
Critical Reading - 497
Mathematics - 513
Writing – 487

Test Centers

The SAT exam is conducted at the test centers in following cities. Please note that these cities have multiple test centers. 1. New Delhi
6. Mussoorie
2. Bangalore
7. Kodaikanal
3. Calcutta
8. Hyderabad
4. Cochin
9. Mumbai
5. Pune
10. Chennai

Exam Dates
The SAT is conducted only a few times a year between October to June. Between these months, the available dates for the year
2014-15 are:
1. October 11, 2014
2. November 8, 2014
3. December 6, 2014
4. January 24, 2015
5. May 2, 2015
6. June 6, 2015

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Sample
Questions
Reading

Math

The Reading section contains two types of questions. Passage-based reading
Example:
“The rock was still wet. The animal was glistening, like it was still swimming,” recalls Hou
Xianguang. Hou discovered the unusual fossil while surveying rocks as a paleontology graduate student in 1984, near the Chinese town of
Chengjiang. “My teachers always talked about the Burgess Shale animals. It looked like one of them.
My hands began to shake.”
Hou had indeed found a Naraoia like those from Canada. However,
Hou’s animal was 15 million years older than its Canadian relatives.”

The Mathematics section contains two types of questions.
Example:
Multiple Choice
A special lottery is to be held to select the student who will live in the only deluxe room in a dormitory. There are 100 seniors,
150 juniors, and 200 sophomores who applied. Each senior’s name is placed in the lottery 3 times; each junior’s name, 2 times; and each sophomore’s name, 1 time. What is the probability that a senior’s name will be chosen?
(A) 1/8
(B) 2/9
(C) 2/7
(D) 3/8
(E) 1/2

In line 5, “surveying” most nearly means
(A) Calculating the value of
(B) Examining comprehensively
(C) Determining the boundaries of
(D) Polling randomly
(E) Conducting a statistical study of
Sentence Completion
Example:
Hoping to________the dispute, negotiators proposed a compromise that they felt would be________to both labor and management.
(A) enforce________useful
(B) end________divisive
(C) overcome________unattractive
(D) extend________satisfactory
(E) resolve________acceptable

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Student-produced responses
| 4x - 7 | = 5
| 3 - 8x | = 1
What value of satisfies both of the equations above?

Sample Questions
Writing

The Writing section contains four types of questions. Improving Sentences
Example:
Scenes from the everyday lives of African
Americans, which are realistically depicted in the paintings of Henry Ossawa Tanner.
(A) Scenes from the everyday lives of
African Americans, which are realistically depicted in the paintings of Henry
Ossawa Tanner.
(B) Scenes from the everyday lives of
African Americans being realistically depicted in the paintings of Henry Ossawa
Tanner.
(C) The paintings of Henry Ossawa Tanner realistically depict scenes from the everyday lives of African Americans.

(D) Henry Ossawa Tanner, in his realistic paintings, depicting scenes from the everyday lives of African Americans.
(E) Henry Ossawa Tanner, whose paintings realistically depict scenes from the everyday lives of African Americans.
Identifying sentence errors
The students (A) have discovered that (B) they can address issues more effectively (C) through letter-writing campaigns (D) and not through public demonstrations. (E) No error (A)
(B)
(C)
(D)
(E)

Improving Paragraphs
Example:
(1) Many times art history courses focus on the great “masters,” ignoring those women who should have achieved fame. (2) Often women artists like Mary Cassatt have worked in the shadows of their male contemporaries.(3) They have rarely received much attention during their lifetimes.
(4) My art teacher has tried to make up for it by teaching us about women artists and their work. (5) Recently she came to class very excited; she had just read about a littleknown artist named Annie Johnson, a high school teacher who had lived all of her life in New Haven, Connecticut. (6)Johnson never sold a painting, and her obituary in 1937 did not even mention her many paintings. (7) Thanks to Bruce Blanchard, a Connecticut businessman who bought some of her watercolors at an estate sale. (8)Johnson is finally starting to get the attention that she deserved more than one hundred years ago. (9)
Blanchard now owns a private collection of hundreds of Johnson’s works — watercolors, charcoal sketches, and pen-and-ink drawings.
(10) There are portraits and there are landscapes. (11) The thing that makes her work stand out are the portraits. (12) My teacher described them as “unsentimental.” (13) They do not idealize characters. (14)Characters are presented almost photographically. (15) Many of the people in the pictures had an isolated, haunted look. (16) My teacher said that isolation symbolizes Johnson’s life as an artist.

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Sample Questions
In context, which is the best revision to the underlined portion of sentence 3
(reproduced below)?
They have rarely received much attention during their lifetimes.
(A) In fact, they had
(B) Too bad these artists have
(C) As a result, these women have
(D) In spite of this, women artists
(E) Often it is the case that the former have
Essay
Example:
Many persons believe that to move up the ladder of success and achievement, they must forget the past, repress it, and relinquish it.
But others have just the opposite view. They see old memories as a chance to reckon with the past and integrate past and present.
Adapted from Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot,
I’ve Known Rivers: Lives of Loss and
Liberation
Assignment: Do memories hinder or help people in their effort to learn from the past and succeed in the present? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.

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You will require to take SAT if you are considering:
Business
Engineering

Humanities
Law

Science
Computers

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