I’m a sophomore in high school and starting to think about the SAT. I’m mostly curious about what the test covers. Like, what specific subject areas should I be focusing on in school? I know it’s supposed to be a standardized test for college admissions, but that doesn’t really tell me much about the content. Does it cover science? History? Is it just math and reading? I’ve heard some things about grammar too.
Could someone give me a clear breakdown of the different sections and the specific topics within each section that are actually tested? I’m especially worried about whether I need to start cramming in stuff I haven’t covered yet in class. Thanks!
Answer
The SAT (Scholastic Assessment Test) assesses skills and knowledge in three main areas: Reading, Writing and Language, and Math. Let’s break down each section:
1. Reading:
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Content: This section presents passages of varying lengths and complexities drawn from a variety of sources. These sources include:
- U.S. and World Literature: Excerpts from novels, short stories, poems, and plays.
- History/Social Studies: Passages related to historical events, political science, economics, sociology, psychology, and other social sciences. These passages often explore themes of freedom, justice, human rights, or social change.
- Science: Passages dealing with topics from biology, chemistry, physics, Earth science, and environmental science. These passages often present scientific theories, research findings, or experimental data.
- Skills Assessed: The Reading section tests your ability to:
- Comprehension: Understand the explicit meaning of the text, as well as draw reasonable inferences and conclusions.
- Vocabulary in Context: Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used within the passage. Focus is placed on understanding how words function within the context, rather than testing isolated vocabulary definitions.
- Analysis: Analyze the structure of the passage, identify the author’s purpose and point of view, and evaluate the evidence presented.
- Evidence-Based Reading: Locate and cite specific textual evidence to support your answers. Questions often ask you to identify the best evidence for a previous answer.
- Central Ideas and Themes: Determine the central ideas or themes of a passage and analyze their development.
- Relationships: Understand the relationships between different parts of a passage, such as cause and effect, comparison and contrast, or problem and solution.
2. Writing and Language:
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Content: This section presents passages that are similar in topic and style to those found in the Reading section, but with intentional errors in grammar, usage, sentence structure, and organization.
- Skills Assessed: The Writing and Language section tests your ability to:
- Grammar and Usage: Identify and correct errors in grammar, such as subject-verb agreement, pronoun usage, verb tense consistency, and correct use of modifiers.
- Sentence Structure: Improve sentence structure by correcting run-on sentences, sentence fragments, misplaced modifiers, and other structural errors.
- Punctuation: Demonstrate correct use of punctuation, including commas, semicolons, colons, apostrophes, and quotation marks.
- Word Choice: Select the most appropriate words to convey the intended meaning, avoiding redundancy, ambiguity, and inappropriate tone.
- Organization and Development: Improve the organization, coherence, and logical flow of the passage by rearranging sentences, adding or deleting information, and strengthening transitions.
- Rhetorical Effectiveness: Improve the clarity, precision, and impact of the writing by choosing appropriate language, style, and tone for the given audience and purpose.
- Analysis of Text: Ability to assess and improve the overall quality and effectiveness of the writing, considering its purpose, audience, and context.
3. Math:
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Content: The Math section covers a range of mathematical concepts and skills, primarily focusing on:
- Algebra: Solving linear equations and inequalities, systems of equations, graphing linear equations, understanding and manipulating algebraic expressions, and working with functions.
- Problem Solving and Data Analysis: Analyzing and interpreting data presented in tables, graphs, and charts; solving multi-step problems; working with ratios, proportions, percentages, and unit conversions; using statistics and probability.
- Passport to Advanced Math: Manipulating quadratic equations, working with polynomials, understanding exponential and radical expressions, and using nonlinear equations.
- Additional Topics in Math: Geometry (including area, volume, triangles, circles, and the Pythagorean theorem), trigonometry (including sine, cosine, and tangent), and complex numbers.
- Arithmetic: Although not a primary focus, basic arithmetic skills (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division) are essential for solving many problems.
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Format: The Math section is divided into two portions:
- Math Test – Calculator: This portion allows the use of a calculator.
- Math Test – No Calculator: This portion does not allow the use of a calculator.
- Question Types: The Math section includes:
- Multiple-Choice Questions: These questions present five answer choices, only one of which is correct.
- Student-Produced Response Questions (Grid-Ins): These questions require you to solve a problem and then grid in your answer on a special answer sheet. There are no answer choices provided.
In summary, the SAT tests a combination of reading comprehension, writing and language skills, and mathematical reasoning abilities that are considered essential for success in college and beyond.
