Sat sınavında her bölüm için minimum puan 200 maksimum puan 800’dür. Yani Writing (W 200-800), Mathematics (M 200-800) ve Critical Reading (CR 200 – 800)

Mathemeatics ve Critical Reading skorlarınız eski SAT sınavındaki Mathematics ve Verbal kısmı gibi düşünülebilir. Ama SAT Writing tamamen yeni sınava özgü bir bölümdür.

Giriş için gerekli minimum puan ise okuldan okula ve bölümden bölüme değişmektedir.

Mart 2005 tarihinde SAT sınavının formatında değişiklik yapılmıştır. Bu değişikler şunlardır:

- Quantitative Comparisons çıkartıldı

SAT I (Reasoning Test) sayısal ve sözel olmak üzere iki bölümden oluşan, yaklaşık üç saatlik bir genel yetenek ve bilgi testidir. Daha önceleri iki bölümden oluşan SAT 1 sınavı Mart 2005 tarihinden itibaren üç bölümden oluşuyor. Sözel bölüm, eleştirel okuma olarak adlandırıldı, sayısal yani matematik bölümü aynen kaldı ve kompozisyon eklendi. Sınav süresi 3 saat 45 dakikadır.

SAT II (Subject Tests) ise biyoloji, kimya, fizik, tarih gibi alanlarda bilginizi ölçen bir saatlik ve çoktan seçmeli bir sınavdır. Her bir bölüm 800 üzerinden değerlendirilir. SAT sınavlarının geçerliği 5 yıldır; ancak başvurduğunuz kurumun koşullarına bağlı olarak sınava tekrar girmeniz istenebilir.

Bu bölüm 25 dakika sürer ve:

Skoru 1-6 arasıdır. En iyi skor 6 tam puandır.

Örnek Konu başlığı ve Örnek Yazılmış Kompozisyonlar

KONU: Are people motivated to achieve by personal satisfaction rather than by money or fame? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.

Even though we live in a capitalist society, I still cannot help but believe, despite my own cynicism, that people are more motivated to achieve something for personal satisfaction rather than monetary gains. Look at Chekov's short story, "The Bet." A man agrees to sacrifice fifteen years of his life in prison in exchange for a million dollars. Obviously his motivation for such an extreme bet is wealth, but by the end of the prison sentence, the man could care less about the money. After years of introspection, of reading Shakespeare, The Bible, and textbooks, the man actually comes to despise the money he once sought; the money he signed away fifteen years of his life for. He does not collect his money from the banker, he runs away to be on his own and continue to live the life of solitude he has learned to love, free of money and possessions.

Also, in a psychology class, one of the first things students study when they come to the topic of motivation, is external stimulus versus personal drive. Any textbook will tell one that studies show that a child is more likely to put as much energy as possible into completing a task when it is something that makes him happy, than if he was doing it for a physical reward. A child is more likely to get good grades, if it makes him feel good about himself, than if his parents offer to pay him every time he makes the honor roll. I agree with this theory on motivation because I see it play out everyday in my life. If my older sister had been concerned with money and fame, which reality television tells us every night is important, she would have gone to college after graduating high school. She knew though, that school and learning did not make her happy, and she was not going to suffer through four more years of school just because a college degree could lead to a more successful job. Right now she does not make as much money at her job, but she likes her life and the way she lives; she has more fun answering phones and dealing with other people at work than she would behind a desk in a classroom. This past year I myself have been forced to look at my priorities as well. I have worked hard in school all my life and have made honor roll semester after semester, because I enjoy it. I have not filled up my schedule with classes I did not want because calculus and economics look good on a college transcript. I had a high enough GPA to join the National Honor Society, but I chose not to join because even though it might have impressed some admissions officers, it was not something that was going to make me happy. Instead I spend my time studying Creative Writing, Art History, and the other subjects I feel truly passionate about.

There is a pleasure principle in psychology, which basically means that one will do whatever will make them most happy or least unhappy. I think that is true, and I feel that the happiness most people seek out is not about money or luxury. Maybe it looks like that from the media, because advertising says that people want to be like Donald Trump, but that is not real life. Real life is my next door neighbor who gardens as a second job for small fees because he loves to be outside, working with his hands in the nice weather. I am sure no one would mind winning the lottery, but to say that it is our primary motivator in life is sad and untrue. A person who is happy and making minimum wage is likely to live longer than someone who spends his or her life working sixty four hour weeks at a stressful job to make money hand over fist. Are some people very driven by money? Yes. Is that more important than the personal satisfaction that comes from doing something good? Literature, psychology, and our personal lives tell us no, and I hope it stays that way.

My view of the idea that it is personal satisfaction rather than money or fame that motivates people to achieve is sometimes wrong because in sports some people do it for personal satisfaction because they love the game and some people do it for the money because it pays well. For example, in the NFL there are two types of people, one plays for the check and the other plays for the ring.

Writing Sınavı Çoktan Seçmeli Sorular:

Bu bölüm 35 dakika sürer. Bu bölümde Gramer, Cümle Yapısı , Kelime Bilgisi vb yeteneğiniz ölçülür.

Belirli bir alandaki bilginizi ölçen sınavdır. Sınav süresi 1 saattir. Sorular çoktan seçmelidir.

Subject olarak şu konular seçilebilir:

Sınav süresi için, 1 saattir ve çoktan seçmeli sorulardan oluşur denir ama bazı bölümlerin kendine özgü özellikleri vardır.

Subject Test in Biology E/M 60 genel biyoloji bilgisinin ölçüldüğü sorudan oluşur. Çoktan seçmelidir. Sonrasında 20’şer sorudan oluşan yine seçenekli iki bölümden oluşur. Biri ecological (Biology E) diğeri ise molecular (Biology M) dir. 60 mecburi soruyu cevaplandırdıktan sonra ilginize göre Biology E ya da Biology M seçebilirsiniz.

Subject Tests in Math (Level 1 ve Level 2) sınavları scientific ve graphing hesap makinesi kullanmanızı gerektirir.

Subject Tests in Languages with Listening (Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Korean, and Spanish) dinleme ve okuma bölümlerini içerir. Bu sınavı alacak olan öğrenciler kabul edilebilir bir kasetçalar ve kulaklığı test merkezine getirmek zorundadır. Ancak ülkemizde genellikle bu testi alan öğrenci yoktur.