<p>Let’s just say that I screwed up the Jan. SAT…</p>
<p>My math score was about 100 points below what I usually get on practice tests. I forgot quite a bit of material that I am currently reviewing. 620</p>
<p>My writing score was also about 100 points below what I expected. I freaked out and messed up my essay (I’m usually a somewhat decent timed essay writer). I usually get 0-2 wrong on the MC section so I’m going to see why I got a 680. </p>
<p>However, I must admit that I cannot say anything negative about my CR score which broke 700. I usually fail miserably on this section so getting such a score was like a miracle.</p>
<p>I would like to raise my SAT score 200 points but that hardly seems realistic. Still, I’m going to try to raise it as much as possible. It would be very helpful if I knew which SAT month had the easiest tests.</p>
<p>if it was easier then everyone taking the test will do better, and harsher curve, if it was harder, then everyone will do worse and the grading scale will be more nicer. so it doesnt really help you if the test was easier.</p>
<p>i think last yr’s march was pretty easy. but of course, that made the curve insane.</p>
<p>for critical reading, i got a 650 with 10 incorrect, 0 omitted in march.
in october of 07, i got a 620 with 15 incorrect, 0 omitted. as you can see, a slight difference. </p>
<p>math is always gonna be a tough curve. its just a matter of extreme concentration.</p>
<p>and i would tell you about writing, but my writing scores are so different from each other that i cant find a correlation (essay/MC scores all over the place)</p>
<p>Its a standardized test. If the test is easy, the curve’s is harsh. If the test is difficult, the curve would be somewhat more lenient. I, however, prefer Easy/bad curve because it makes me feel better about myself:D.</p>
<p>When I took the March SAT last year I think the math section was easier than usual and the CR was harder than usual… it was rather bizarre </p>
<p>And I think october is generally regarded as the month with the hardest curve just because it’s when all the seniors with the most preparation/experience take the SAT for the last time.</p>
<p>There is no CURVE in the sense that y’all consider it. These questions have been tested for ever and each test is the same difficulty, plus or minus 2 questions. Thus, on some versions you need a perfect score (all of them correct) to earn an 800 M, on others you could miss one or skip one, so the scaling does come into play. But, it’s not like you can miss four and earn an 800.</p>
<p>Seniors tend to score better in October bcos they’ve had 3+ years of English and math. Sometimes you just get lucky with a CR passage that is almost interesting (to you) and doesn’t immediately put you to sleep. Or, you get unlucky (if math is not your thing) and you end up with 7 Alg II problems instead of 5. Or change Alg II for Geom, and you’ll get the idea.</p>
<p>But don’t forget, that many of those October testers are retaking bcos they didn’t like their earlier (Junior year) score. Those that scored 2220+ Junior year can be done and may not retake, but a 1900 would definitely retake (if applying to a highly selective college).</p>
<p>wow, I’ve never thought of analyzing test-taking trends and predicting the curves before–ironically, the first time I took the SATs was in Oct. which according to samurkai is the toughest–eek…</p>
<p>that said, am taking test again this month and hoping for the best=) I’ll probably just try not to think about the whole bell curve thing until the test is over.</p>
<p>Not sure where Oct. gets its reputation for harsh curves, the data do not support that conclusion, unless you only consider the last two years, for math only.</p>
<p>“Curve” is the wrong term. The test’s standard scores are equated from one version of the test to another, and you can read all about it in an official College Board publication. </p>
<p>I think the word “curve” can reasonably be applied to any mapping of a raw score to a final score: the latter is a function, and the former is a term commonly used in substitution to mean “the function”, even though the two are different and mathematicians would not use them interchangeably. Although “equating” captures the technical purpose and necessity of the mapping, forcing the use of that term reminds me of a requirement, say, to use “femur” rather than “leg bone”. Only the former may be technically correct and what a physician must use, but for many people the latter term still conveys much of the definition. The problem with curve / leg bone is that these generic terms can mean different things, and indeed the typical curve on a test in high school serves a different purpose than that on the SAT.</p>
<p>Of course, after all that, I agree with you that for most people the small variations in the difficulty of the test from one month to another make no difference at all. :)</p>