What is the format of the SAT test?

The SAT is a 3¾-hour exam, divided into 10 sections - three Writing Sections, three Critical Reading sections, three Math sections, plus an experimental section:

writing skills - 1 question time: 25 minutes	1 essay
mathematics - 20 questions time: 25 minutes	20 standard multiple-choice
critical reading - 24 questions time: 25 minutes	8 sentence completion 4 reading comprehension (2 short passages) 12 reading comprehension ( long passage)
writing skills - 35 questions time: 25 minutes	11 improving sentences 18 identifying sentence error 6 improving paragraph
mathematics - 18 questions time: 25 minutes	8 standard multiple-choice 10 grid-ins
critical reading - 24 questions time: 25 minutes	5 sentence completion 4 reading comprehension (paired short passages) 15 reading comprehension ( 2 long passages)
mathematics - 16 questions time: 20 minutes	16 standard multiple-choice
critical reading - 19 questions time: 20 minutes	6 sentence completion 13 reading comprehension ( paired long passages)
writing skills - 14 questions time: 10 minutes	14 improving sentences

Although the new SAT test consists of ten sections, your scores are based on only nine of them. There are six 25-minute sections (three writing skills, three math and three critical reading), two 20-minute sections (one math and one critical reading), and one 10-minute writing skills. The tenth section is another 25-minute section in any of the three question types. It is commonly referred to as the "experimental" section and used to test out new questions for future exams. However, because this extra section is identical in format to one of the other sections, there is no way to know which section is the experimental one, and so you must do your best on every section of the SAT test.

There are four types of questions in the writing skills portion of the SAT test.

• Essay question - You wil be given a statement or statements followed by an assignment relating to that statement.
• Identifying sentence error - These will ask you to find an error in the underlined section of a sentence. You do not have to correct the sentence or explain what is wrong.
• Improving sentences - Here you will be presented with five different versions of the same sentence; you must choose the best one.
• Improving paragraphs - You will be given a flawed student essay followed by six questions. You then must decide which answer choice best rewrites and combines portions of two separate sentences, decide where in the essay a sentence best fits, or choose what sort of additional information would most strengthen the writer's argument.

There are two types of questions on the critical reading portion of the SAT test.

• Sentence completion questions - These ask you to fill in the blanks. Your job is to find the word or phrase that best completes the sentences meaning.
• Critical reading questions - Here you'll be given either short reading passages of a dozen or so lines, or long reading passages of 50 lines or more followed by a number of questions. They ask about the passage's main idea or specific details, the author's attitude to the subject, the author's logic and techniques, the implications of the discussion, or the meaning of specific words.

There are two types of questions on the mathematics portion of the SAT.

• Multiple-choice questions - The first few of these questions in each section are quite easy; they are followed by several medium difficulty; and the last few are considered hard.
• Grid-in questions where the answers to the questions are entered in a special grid. Grid-ins also proceed from easy to difficult. A a result, the amount of time you slend on any one question will vary greatly.

How is the SAT test scored?

You will receive three separate scores based on the familiar 200-800 scale for each of the exam sections: critical reading, math, and writing. The score for the new writing section will be derived from two subscores: one based on a multiple-choice score of 20-80 and another on an essay score of 2-12. The essay will be graded independantly by two readers in about two minutes, reading it very quickly to judge it as a whole. (The College Board calls thisa process holistic scoring.) Each reader will assign a score of 1 to 6, with 6 being the highest possible score. The two scores will then be combined giving you a total essay score of 2-12.
To see what the test-makers say about what characteristics distinguish essays at the various scoring levels, Click Here.