Many of us have tuned into American TV shows and film where teen characters are stressed out about their SAT exams, which has sparked the curiosity of many.
The SAT exams, officially known as the Scholastic Assessment Tests, are standardised tests widely used for college admissions in the United States. Administered by the College Board, the SAT is designed to assess a high school student’s readiness for college and provide colleges with a common data point that can be used to compare all applicants.
The exams involve three different sections. The first is evidence based reading and writing (EBRW), which is meant to evaluate your comprehension skills.
The second is mathematics – including one calculator-based test and another without. And the third is an optional essay that assesses a student’s skills in developing a coherent and persuasive essay based on a given argument.
Each section of the SAT is scored on a scale of 200 to 800, with composite scores ranging from 400 to 1600. While many universities have moved towards test-optional policies, the SAT remains a significant component of the college application process for many students.
So how would a British student get on if they sat the exams without any studying? A Cambridge University undergraduate decided to give it a go.
Erin Meryl, who is a Gilmore Girls superfan, noticed that character Rory Gilmore – known for being a super smart teenager who wants to go to Harvard University – often frets about the examinations and she wanted to see if she could beat her score.
So the Cambridge University student, who studies economics and got A*s in her pre-university exams, gave it a go to see how hard it would be. In a TikTok video posted online, she asked: “Why do Americans get so worked up about the SAT? It is not that hard.”
Erin added: “You cannot watch an American television show without them going on and on about how hard the SAT – it’s kind of done as a university entrance exam it seems. And so, I thought I have nothing better to do this Friday morning, so let me attempt an SAT practice test to how hard it really is.
“I kind of get annoyed when they get so worked up about it, saying ‘oh my god it’s the hardest thing ever’, when whenever I look at it it just looks like the 11 plus exams.”
Midway through the test she said: “So I am a couple of questions into the reading section and it is literally like ‘which word fills the gap to complete the sentence?’.” Erin said she found that a lot of the questions are simple comprehension. She was baffled after finding the first question on the maths section asked students what 10% of 470 is.
“It gets harder but this first module is literally just GCSE level maths,” Erin insisted. She also pointed out that the exam allows you to use a calculator. She added: “You don’t get the hardness that you would get even in A Level maths.”
However she added that she did not answer the questions under a time limit and pointed out this could make it harder in a real examination setting. “But they’re not objectively hard questions,” she added.
Revealing her scores, Erin got 30 out of 33 for one English section, 31 out of 33 on the second. In maths she got 25 out of 27 on the first section and 26 out of 27 on the second. She worked out she landed a total score of 1470-1520 on the SAT.
A number of American people explained what the scores mean, and which university you could get into. One individual commented and said: “That score could get you into Harvard.” Another added: “The scores you got put you in the top 97%-99%.”
A third said: “I looked up if 1470 was a good score and it said you scored higher than 97% of people and it said 1520 was enough to safely get into Harvard or Yale.”
An American man explained: “The SAT isn’t meant to be difficult in terms of content, it’s designed to assess your problem solving ability in a timed setting, not necessarily if you know the content.”
But one other pointed out: “Doing the test untimed defeats the whole purpose lol, the time crunch is most of what makes it hard.” Another agreed: “The whole point of the SAT is the limited time. If you remove the timing your score means nothing.”