After you have completed the SAT, you need to patiently await the arrival of your results. It can take up to six weeks to receive your Score Report. The SAT Score Report contains some useful information about a student’s performance. Your scores will be compared with those from the previous year and you will receive a break down of your scores and an explanation of what they mean.
Having a good grasp on how your SAT is scored can help you to better understand your results. Scoring is a two step process. First a raw score is calculated; you will receive one point for each correct multiple choice question and will lose ¼ of a point for each incorrect answer. You will not lose a point for omitted questions or for self-produced math questions. Your raw score is calculated by adding up all of the incorrect answers and subtracting them from the number of correct responses. The next step is to convert your raw score into the College Board 200 to 800 point scaled score. This process is called equating. The purpose is to adjust for slight differences in difficulty between test editions. This way a student who scored a 500 on one edition would have the ability to score a 500 on another edition of the SAT.
