When the grading of SAT that you have taken is done, a raw score will be calculated for each part (Critical Reading, Writing, and Mathematics). For each of the 67 critical reading questions, you will receive 1 points for a correct; for each incorrect answer, 1/4 of a point is deducted. For example, if you were to answer 58 of the critical reading questions, getting 50 right and 8 wrong, your raw score would be calculated as follows: 50-8(1/4) = 50-2 = 48. Notice that points were neither added nor deducted for the 10 questions you omitted. This raw score is then converted to a scaled score between 200 (the lowest possible grade) and 800 (the highest possible grade).

The same procedure is followed on the writing skills and mathematics parts, except that no deduction is made for incorrect gridlines. Because a deduction is made for incorrect answers, you may think that you should only answer a question if you are sure of the answer. That is a very poor strategy. On average, you will break even by guessing wildly on questions that you don't know how to do or haven't even read, and will come out ahead by guessing anytime that you eliminate one or more of the choices.

For SAT exam, when you receive your score report online or in the mail, you will get only your scaled scores - one for the critical reading part of the exam, one for the writing part, and one for the mathematics part. On each part, the median grade is about 500, meaning that about 50 percent of the students taking the test score below 500, and 50 percent score above 500. On each part, earning only half of the number of points possible will result in a grade above 500. You certainly don't have to answer all, or even most, of the questions to earn a good score. In fact, unless you are in the top 5 percent of all students, and think that you might score over 700 on one of the parts, you shouldn't even attempt to finish the test. Working slowly and carefully will undoubtedly earn you higher scores.

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