Do You Know Everything About The SAT, ACT, & Subject Tests?

Is a 1700 good for the SAT? Is a 2050 good? What about an 1870? A 2300 on the SAT has to be good right? Is an ACT score of 23 good? Is a 27 good for the ACT? What about scores for the SAT II? Is a 650 good? -Well the answer to all of these questions is yes and no. (Either way, it is useful to know some 2013 test score averages which can be found below.)

If you didn’t know, how important standardized tests are for college applications, now you do. Test scores separate the boys and girls from men and women. 

SAT, ACT, AP, IB, and SAT II scores are all objective measures that colleges and universities can use to evaluate applicants and make initial decisions of who meets basic standards. These scores are then combined with other factors like GPA on a 4.0 scale, difficulty of classes, class rank, and national awards in order find the best applicants out of the thousands who apply.

Finally, subjective parts of the application, like essays and letters of recommendation, are used to find the best of the best. It is a lengthy process that breaks many hearts, but there are only so many spots in a freshman class.

There are always exceptions, but generally the objective measures are a starting place for both anyone thinking of applying and admissions staff.

How Does The SAT Reasoning Test Work?

The first and most important test is the SAT Reasoning Test. This test lasts for 3 hours 45 minutes and covers reading, math, vocabulary, grammar, and writing.

These topics are divided into 3 overall sections and further divided into smaller 15-25 minute chunks. Scores range from 200 to 800 per section with a possible maximum score of 2400. The average SAT score is 1500 (500 on each of the 3 sections).

In all sections except for the essay and write in for math there is a ¼ point deduction for every wrong answer.

Below are the average SAT scores of students entering a wide variety of universities. These universities are all for students who perform above average, but there is data available for every school on the Internet.

The first thing to do is to compare your SAT scores with the averages from the school you are interested in attending. While there is much more to an application that a test score, seeing where your score fits is an important step to finding a college you want to attend. Do you want to know what a good SAT score for 2013 is?

Is Your SAT Score Good Enough for College?  

School	SAT Math	SAT Reading	SAT Writing
Harvard	710-790	700-800	710-800
Brown	660-770	660-760	670-780
UCLA	600-760	560-680	590-710
Penn State	560-670	530-630	540-640
University TX Austin	580-710	550-670	540-680
Ohio State	610-710	540-650	550-650
American University	570-670	590-690	580-680
Pepperdine	570-680	550-650	560-670
NYU	630-740	620-710	640-730

 How Does The ACT Aptitude Test Work?

The ACT is the other widely accepted standardized exam that colleges accept. This test covers additional topics that are not on the SAT like science and trigonometry. The ACT is widely known as a test on knowledge (either you know the answer or you don’t), while the SAT is about reasoning (figuring out the answer). 

The ACT takes 3 hours 25 minutes, but there are more questions than on the SAT, so speed is essential. The ACT is scored out of 36 points and the average composite score is around 21. There is no penalty for guessing  on the ACT.

Below are the average ACT composite scores for the same schools where I listed the SAT scores above. Again, scores are not everything, but they act as a good guideline for future applicants. 

Is Your ACT Score Good Enough For College? 

ACT Composite Score Averages

How Do The SAT II Subject Tests Work? 

SAT II Subject tests cover specific subjects and are much shorter than the regular SAT or ACT. The subjects covered by the SAT II’s are: Literature, U.S. History, World History, Math 1, Math 2, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Chinese, French, Hebrew, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latin, and Spanish.

These tests generally last one hour each and you can take up to three in a single day. The average scores for SAT Subject Tests are rather high, but that is because most people who take a subject test have knowledge about the subject.

Subject tests are useful because they allow a student to stand out among a sea of people as someone who understands a particular subject fairly well. They are another objective measure that colleges and universities can use to compare students to one another when making admission decisions.

Is Your SAT II Subject Test Score Good Enough For College?

Literature	576	Chinese Listening	758
US History	608	French	622
World History	607	French Listening	646
Math 1	610	German	622
Math 2	654	German Listening	611
Biology	605 (Micro 635)	Hebrew	623
Chemistry	648	Italian	666
Physics	656	Japanese	684
Korean Listening	767	Spanish	647
Latin	611	Spanish Listening	663

How Do The AP and IB Subject Tests Work?

Finally, this leaves AP and IB tests. These exams are both subject tests that a student would take at the end of the school year, usually in May. AP is much more common in American schools so I will focus primarily on those. However, most of the AP subjects are also covered under the IB program.

AP classes cover Art, English, History, Social Science, Math, Computer Science, Sciences, and World Languages/Cultures. Rather than list all of the AP courses please look at them here. https://apstudent.collegeboard.org/apcourse

AP exams take an entire afternoon, and are usually over three hours long. There are extensive essays on most exams and multiple-choice questions. AP art students submit portfolios to the College Board to be graded. Tests are graded on a 5-point scale, with 3 usually being a “passing” grade.

Some colleges and universities will only accept 4’s or 5’s but it is different at every institution. There is also no penalty for guessing on AP exams. There used to be a penalty, but it was removed in 2010, so it is to a student’s advantage to fill in every blank bubble.

Conclusions About the State of Standardized Testing

So what do all of these tests really mean? Honestly – absolutely nothing. They are an easy way for colleges and universities to compare candidates when making admissions decisions. Many smart students perform poorly on these tests while many students who are “good at taking tests” can score very highly.

 It is unfortunate that these tests have such a huge weight on the college application process. There are many more important things to consider in an applicant than scores, but these are the easiest and most objective measures.  Until something new is created, all students must play the game and take the tests.

I took the SAT four times before I earned scores that I was satisfied with. It is a waste of money, but what else is there? Don’t feel bad if your score isn’t “good enough.” There are plenty of colleges and everyone can find a perfect match.