The SAT is essentially three different tests wrapped into one. The three tests are Critical Reading, Math, and Writing.
The Critical Reading test, which is divided into three sections, consists of a total of 67 multiple-choice questions. There are two types of questions in this test: Sentence Completions (19 questions) and Reading Comprehension (48 questions).
The Math test, which is also spread out over three sections, consists of a total of 54 questions. 44 of the math questions are multiple choice and the other 10 require students to write in the answer.
The Writing test consists of 49 multiple-choice questions and one essay. The multiple-choice questions are distributed into two sections. The essay is its own section.
On test day, the students are given a total of 10 sections to complete. The first section is always the essay section of the Writing test and the last section is always the shorter section of the Writing test (14 questions). The remaining sections, which appear in no predetermined order, consist of
3 Critical Reading sections ~ 3 Math sections ~ 1 Writing section ~ 1 unscored section
The unscored section will look identical to one of the other 7 sections. Unfortunately, there is no way to identify which section is the unscored section. (The test makers use the unscored section to test new material, so the answers do not count toward the final score.)
Each individual test is scored in the following fashion: ¼ of the number of incorrect answers* is subtracted from the number of correct answers to yield a raw score. For example, if you had 50 correct and 4 incorrect, the raw score would be 49. (50 – ¼(4) = 50 – 1 = 49). The raw score is then converted into a scaled score. The range of the scaled score for each of the three tests is 200 to 800.
The total time for the test is 3 hours and 45 minutes. Students with extra time will either have 50% more time (in most cases) or double time (in rarer instances) to complete each section of the test.
On the 10 math questions for which the student is required to write in the answer, there is no ¼-point deduction for the wrong answer.
