What is the SAT?

During World War I, Robert yerkes, the leader of the new IQ movement, persuaded the US Army to use the test method he invented to test the intelligence of recruits. Yerkes's assistant named Carl Burlingham is a psychologist who teaches at Princeton University. After World War I, Burlingham revised this test method, and it was first tried in thousands of university applicants in 1926.

SAT I originated from Harvard and was originally a pure intelligence test.

From 65438 to 0933, President James Conant of Harvard University decided to start scholarships to attract outstanding students from public schools to study at Harvard University. Conant gave his deputy, Henry chauncey, a task to try to find an examination method for selecting scholarship candidates. Chauncey found Burlingham, and also found Burlingham's SAT. President Conant appreciates this kind of test very much, because it is only a pure intelligence test, which has nothing to do with the participants' high school curriculum and education.

From 65438 to 0934, Harvard University used SAT to select scholarship applicants. The following year, Harvard University extended this exam to all students who applied for Harvard University.

The American College Entrance Examination ranks first in the world (1938). Chauncey, vice president, appealed to all the member schools of the University Council, asking them to take the SAT as an examination for applying for scholarships. 1948, the Education Examination Service Center (ETS) with Conant as the first chairman was established, and ETS, as the organizer of the university Council, provided college entrance examination services. Since then, SAT scores have become one of the most basic admission requirements for most universities.

Historical situation

Before May 2005, the SAT was divided into English and mathematics. The minimum score for each part is 200, out of 800. If you make a mistake, you will be deducted. According to statistics 1995, the average score is 424 in English and 475 in mathematics. Only 7% of the candidates in the United States scored above 600 in English, while 2 1% in mathematics. The examination committee thought that the previous questions were difficult and the grading standard was high, so it decided to take the average score of the current year as the middle score from April 1995, increase the scores of the two subjects by 500 points each, and increase the total score of all candidates before 1995 by 100 points. In recent years, the total score of about 20% candidates has reached1200; Only 65,438+0% students scored above 770 in math and English. The average score of mathematics in the United States in 2003 was 565,438+08, and the average score of English was 508. Most people think the English part is more difficult. In 2003, 944 people got full marks (1.600).

The score of SAT is not absolute, but relative, and the score is not proportional to the number of correctly answered questions. The standard for evaluating the middle score of 500 points is formulated by the examination Committee according to the fluctuation of all candidates' examination results. After 1995, the actual grading standard is lower than before 100.

1995, while improving the intermediate score, the University Council renamed the previous SAT as SAT I, and its full English name was also changed to academic assessment test, but the middle word was different, and the academic "wisdom" test was changed to academic "evaluation" test. This may be to emphasize that the purpose of this exam is to evaluate students' learning ability after entering the university. Instead of just testing students' intelligence to deal with intelligence tests. There are some changes in the types of questions in the SAT I exam, but not much. People often habitually refer to the renamed SAT I as the SAT test, but in fact they mean the same thing. The university board believes that SAT can be used to evaluate the academic ability of high school graduates. According to its data, the higher the score, the better the performance of students in universities. It is a standard entrance examination for American high school students to enter American universities. It is called the "College Entrance Examination" in the United States, and its examination results are recognized by more than 3,600 colleges and universities in the United States.

Basic profile

SAT is the abbreviation of English Scholastic Assessment Test, and its Chinese name is scholastic assessment test, which is organized by Educational Testing Service Center (ETS) headquartered in Princeton, New Jersey, USA. SAT scores are an important reference for high school students from all over the world to apply for study and scholarships in famous American universities. At present, high school students want to apply for top universities in the United States. In addition to providing TOEFL and other language proficiency test scores, 90% schools require reference to students' SAT scores, because this is the only score that American universities can get that can compare students' abilities in different regions and schools. It is almost impossible for high school students in China to be admitted to the top 100 universities in the United States if they only have TOEFL scores. In addition, the SAT score is also a decisive factor to determine whether high school students in China can apply for scholarships. Therefore, we can approximately understand that SAT is the national college entrance examination in the United States. (The admission methods in American universities are also different from those in China. It is not comprehensive to simply understand the American college entrance examination. When evaluating whether a student should be admitted to an American university, the proportion of SAT scores generally does not exceed 50%. Generally, schools that are not particularly ranked in the top explicitly put forward that Chinese mainland without SAT test sites is not required to provide SAT scores. Therefore, it is not impossible to apply for a low-ranking school without the SAT. But having a SAT score is definitely much better than not having one. Under the same circumstances, students with SAT scores are given priority. )

More than 2 million high school students in the United States take the SAT every year. It is an exam recognized by almost all American universities, especially Ivy League universities, and requires applicants to provide scores. It is an important reference index for deciding admission and evaluating scholarship issuance. So in 2005, nearly 2,000 high school students in China took the exam, and this number is still exploding year by year.

SAT test is divided into two parts: reasoning test SATⅱ (subject test. SAT 1 mainly tests candidates' writing, reading and math abilities; SAT2 involves mathematics, physics, chemistry and biology. Students in China usually choose three subjects: Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Biology. Generally, high school students in China can apply for admission to American undergraduate schools only by taking the SAT Ⅰ I exam. Compared with TOEFL, SAT is not a language test, but it is a unified test all over the world, including American high school students, so it is much more difficult to learn words than TOEFL. Especially after the reform of SAT in March 2005, the new writing part is a test of students' pure English language ability, which is beyond TOEFL and IELTS. Therefore, it is a big mistake for China students to understand SAT only as language-based reasoning and special tests. On the contrary, it requires a higher language level than TOEFL.

Having SAT scores will greatly increase the chances of admission. SAT scores enable China high school students to enter the same admission platform as American students. SAT scores tell American universities that you are excellent in a language recognized by them. A good SAT score shows that your intelligence and academic performance are better than those of the applicants, including students in the United States and around the world. Harvard, Yale, Princeton and other famous universities admit almost all freshmen with high SAT scores every year.

Because there are not many students taking the SAT in China at present, SAT scores can also make you stand out among domestic applicants. Judging from the situation, the SAT will be a compulsory subject for senior high school students in China, so the earlier the exam, the better.

Therefore, the SAT helps to apply for scholarships. The tuition and living expenses of American schools are as high as tens of thousands of dollars every year, so scholarships are very important for China students. Proving your excellent SAT scores is an important condition for applying for scholarships. In addition, it is also a necessary condition for applying for honorary scholarships during university study after admission.

SAT is very important for American employment. Many large American companies require candidates to provide SAT scores when recruiting employees. Why is this high school grade so important? Because it represents your intellectual quality, whether you are smart enough and whether you have enough potential. From June 5438 to October 28, 2003, The Wall Street Journal had an article entitled "More and more employers require job seekers to provide SAT scores", which can be said to be the best annotation to this trend.

Registration process

(Detailed steps of registration in 2008)

User registration:

Login/,click for students, and the registration page will appear. Click Sing up in my organizer to register an account. Some information is necessary and some information is unnecessary. It is indicated above that the user name and password will be obtained after submission. Go to my organizer page.

Examination registration:

1. It is the most important preparation to set up an international credit card that can pay US dollars online (such as Bank of China-Great Wall International Credit Card and other dual-currency cards). The following contents can be re-registered and modified except for important information such as name, test date and test center. The date of the exam can also be changed later, but there is a charge.

2. In the lower left corner of the "My Organizer" page, click SAT Registration &; Score, enter the SAT registration page, and ask for the user name and password again to confirm the name and date of birth.

3. Go to my profile page and fill in some information, such as race, school, academic performance, academic interests, future research direction, etc. These are not necessary. Before entering the SAT registration page, there are about five pages to be submitted or skipped.

4. Agree to the terms of the SAT and go to the next page. This is the most important place. Select the type and level of the test. Domestic senior three is equivalent to American 12 grade. Pay attention to the test sites outside the United States. Submit. Select the test time on the next page, and the test date that can be registered now will be displayed. Submit, the next page is the fee-based exam counseling service, the next page is the choice of test sites, you can choose two, and the second one is reserved when there are no test places in the first examination room. Click Search Test Center first, and then go to another page. Select Hong Kong or other regions, and the name of the examination room will appear. There will only be examination rooms with examination places. Special note: according to experience, some students will sign up but eventually drop out, so there will still be opportunities to take the exam until the deadline. Log in every day. Maybe luck will come to you.

5. The next page is to choose the school that sends the report card, and four schools can send it for free. The next page is to choose whether to buy collegeboard counseling books.

6. Confirm the information on the next page, fill in the credit card number, and make sure that your name and date of birth are the same as those on your ID card. The number, type and expiration date of the credit card must not be wrong. ***68 dollars, pay the fee and submit the payment.

7. The last step is to print the admission ticket, which is the admission ticket. Be sure to print out the admission ticket, which is the certificate to enter the examination room.

8. Return to My Organizer, which will show your registration status. If the registration fails, you can resubmit it and save all the information you filled in before.

Examination method

SAT has no test center in Chinese mainland, only in Hong Kong and Taiwan provinces, and also in Singapore in Asia. Therefore, it is best for mainland candidates to go to Hongkong or Taiwan Province Province to take the exam (please choose the place when registering online, see the introduction of registration methods above for details).

There are six SAT examination rooms in Hong Kong, namely:

1. International Christian School

2. Sha Tin College

3. Hong Kong International School

4. Yaozhong International School

5. American International School

6. China International School

Some of the above six examination rooms have been closed to non-mainland students since the second half of 2007, and some new examination rooms are as follows:

6th Floor, HKEAA Wan Chai Assessment Centre (SAT 1)

Room 503, Wan Chai Assessment Centre, HKEAA (SAT2)

HKEAA tsuen wan assessment center (SAT2)

HKEAA San Po Kong Office 1 Ground Floor (Saturday 1)

4th Floor, New Pugang Office, HKEAA (SAT 1)

Hefeng college (SAT 1)

Cognitive College (Hong Kong) (SAT 1)

PUI KIU College (SAT 1)

PUI Zhouyi education center (SAT2)

Chinese Christian Church Feng Liangjie MEM Middle School (SAT2)

City University of Hong Kong (SAT 1)

examination fee

The cost of SAT is:

Test cost

SAT reasoning test. 50

SAT subject examination

Basic registration fee .00

Language test with listening add .00

All other subjects test plus 0.00 points.

International processing fee .00

(Student test for country/region)

Except the United States)

Student answer service .00

That is to say, the registration fee for the reasoning test of American native candidates is $465,438+$0.5, and the registration fee for international students other than American native students is $63.5 ($465,438+$0.5+$22). If you need ETS's "student answering service" service after the exam, you need to pay an extra $65,438+00. (The price is subject to the latest announcement in official website, State Taxation Administration of The People's Republic of China)

Fraction calculation method

To understand the calculation method of SAT score, we must first introduce two basic concepts: original score and relative score percentage.

The score of each question on the SAT is equal. No matter how difficult the topic is, the score of each SAT question is equal. Get one point for answering a SAT question correctly; Deduct 1/4 points for answering the wrong SAT question; No answer, no penalty.

Original grade: the number of correct questions multiplied by 1, minus the number of wrong questions multiplied by 1/4, equals the original grade.

Relative score percentage: Statistics of the original score and relative score percentage of candidates in the same exam.

SAT score: map the original score to a table of 200 to 800 in relative proportion. The content of each exam is different, so it is difficult to evaluate the scores of the two exams with the original scores. The percentage of relative scores obtained by this statistical method can tell the relative level of each student of college admissions staff. For example, reading: in a SAT test, the best original score of 1% is 67 points (67 questions); Another SAT test, the best original score of 1% was 66 (67 questions). Then according to the original score, 67 points is better than 66 points. This is obviously unreasonable. Therefore, according to a correspondence, it is practical to map the original score between 200 and 800.

New SAT

Since May 2005, the SAT has been divided into three parts: English, writing and mathematics. 800 points for each part, * * * 2400 points. Previously, the SAT consisted of only two parts, English and Mathematics, with 800 points for each part and * * 1600 points. Since the SAT now includes the writing part, the original "SAT2 Writing Test" was cancelled.

In addition to the writing part, some slightly more difficult algebra problems have been added to the math part. Of course, it will not increase or decrease. For example, change the boring antonym vocabulary to make it easier to read and fill in the blanks.

On the surface, SAT reform is more difficult, longer and more content. In fact, if we consider that because of the addition of the writing part, the university that originally required SAT2 writing will no longer require SAT2 writing. Many universities will require two SAT2 test scores. Moreover, in this way, Asians have to work hard on writing. Perhaps, in the long run, this reform is a good thing for Asians as a whole.

Since May, 2005, in order to enter American universities for undergraduate studies, students in the second and third years of middle school must take the new SAT.

Examination structure

SAT is divided into three parts: analytical reading, mathematics and writing; The score for each part is 200 to 800. There will be a 25-minute no-score section in each exam. The purpose of excluding grades is to design future test questions and so on. The non-hierarchical part can be any of these three parts.

Additional problems in mathematical writing of thematic analysis reading

Minimum score 200 200 200

The highest score is 800 800 800

Total time (minutes) 70 70 60

Time allocation 2 25 minutes part 2 25 minutes part 35 minutes multiple choice part

1 20 minute part 1 20 minute part 25 minute component

Examination questions

According to the official question of the University Committee, the data are as follows:

There are 54 questions in the math section, including 44 multiple-choice questions and 10 fill-in-the-blank questions. Contents include: integers and fractions; Algebra, geometry, statistics, probability; quantitative analysis

Analysis of reading part 67: 19 sentence, paragraph 48. Reading articles involves: natural science, humanities, social science, literature and novels.

Writing part *** 49 questions and an essay: Among them, 18 sentences are wrong, change 25 sentences and 6 paragraphs, and write an essay. Many options include correcting mistakes and rewriting sentences and paragraphs. Composition type: argumentative, with arguments and examples (composition score: 2-12; Multiple choice score: 20-80)

*** 170 and a composition.

The additional part is not a grade and cannot be distinguished from other normal parts. The length of time is 25 minutes. The additional part can be any other part except writing and 10 multiple-choice questions. It is best not to guess which part is not an additional part of the grade. Because ETS will design the additional part to be no different from the normal part.