PLACEMENT EXAMS

SAT - ACT Tests

Many American colleges and universities use the SAT or ACT test as a key part of their entrance criteria. Each exam is 4 hours with several sections of multiple-choice questions and one optional essay. Most universities accept either exam and students who have sufficient time to prepare properly can take both exams and submit the one on which they perform better. There are typically five SAT exams per calendar year: October, December, March, May and August. The substance of what is tested is essentially the same on both exams. The differences come with the style of question, scoring and format of the sections.

The SAT exam contains sections of evidence-based reading & writing and Mathematics. There is also an essay section in the examination, but it is optional for the applicants. It is recommended that students appear for the essay section of the examination too, as that can help them improve their SAT scores. The score is valued between arrange of 400-1600, and there is no marks penalty for wrong answers in the SAT.

The three sections of the SAT exam

EBRW section

This section of the SAT examination evaluates the English language skills and gives a score between 200-800. It is further divided into reading and writing sections, while the final score determined by the combined score of both these sections.

Reading section: The reading section of the SAT exam is 65 minutes long and comprises of 52 multiple-choice questions.

These questions based on 5 passages and all questions are evidence-based that require the student to analyze and interpret the information given in the passages.

Writing Section: The Writing and Language section of the SAT is 35 minutes long and comprises of 44 multiple choice questions based on 4 passages. This section focuses on the ability to analyze and edit the content of the passage, which means students will have to correct grammar and make changes in the passage.

Essay Section

The SAT has included an optional 50 minutes long Essay section in the examination. Even though it is optional it is recommended to take the SAT exam with the Essay as some schools may require the essay score. In this section, students are provided with a passage and are asked to analyze how the author effectively builds his or her argument. The essay will not require the student to write about a personal experience or argue with a position; rather it requires students to understand the techniques used by the author to write persuasively and support the explanation with evidence from the passage.

Mathematics section

The mathematics section of the SAT examination evaluates students mathematical reasoning skills and is graded in a score range of 200-800 points. This Section is 80 minutes long and contains 58 questions, of which 80% of the questions are multiple-choice, but the remaining 20% questions are student-produced response questions which are known as Grid-ins, where instead of choosing from 4 answer choices students have to solve the problem and enter an answer by circling/shading the appropriate numbers.