SAT curves and question difficulty

Test Preparation SAT Preparation
1

<p>I’ve seen some people who’ve gotten the same number of questions wrong, with no omits, in sections like CR and W and Math (yes, despite the grid-ins that don’t take points off), and have different scores. </p>

<p>At first, I thought, How come? But I was thinking this over, and I thought that perhaps the SAT scoring machine is programmed to be a tiny bit more awarding to people who got easy questions wrong compared to people getting hard questions wrong.</p>

<p>Also, maybe the SAT essay graders look at the average grade for each essay topic, and maybe they give a slightly better curve to essay topics that had a noticeably lower essay score. (like an average of 6/12 vs 6.5/12)</p>

<p>Is my hypothesis deranged? I mean, I know that the SAT curve is predetermined, but I thought that if I thought was true, it would explain a lot</p>

2

<p>yea, your nuts they set one curve for everybody and don’t think too far into it. Missing questions 1 is the same is missing question 20. Essay topic 1 is theoretically the same as essay topic 2.</p>

3

<p>Actually, kowloon in December I got 4 wrong no omits in CR and got 750 while some other kid got 760 with also 4 wrongs. U got a point maybe. I am not sure about the essay but I agree regarding the multiple choices.</p>

4

<p>Maybe they still tally the incorrect answers in the experimentals? That would explain a discrepancy in scores since the wrong answers in experimentals aren’t counted.</p>

<p>Dunno though.</p>

5

<p>well each test date they may have four or so different exams,so all have different #wrong to obtain an 800, some in a critical reading section can have as many as 4 CR and still get an 800, yet another form same day 3 wrong and it can drop to a 780 . If you look at a released exam from different dates, look at the correct answers and difficulty scores given them, those with fewer level 5 questions have a more harsh curve, more #5 questions a more lenient curve.</p>

6

<p>^I was talking about 2 students taking the same test at the same day, and though they both had the same raw score, their scaled score was different</p>

7

<p>There are two different test forms given on the same day.</p>

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<p>^but that doesn’t change anything, since the only thing changing is the order of sections</p>

9

<p>The thing is in Jan we all got the same questions. But in December, there were several different sets of questions. Other months were all like tht too. We Jan kids were the lucky(or unlucky??) ones.</p>

10

<p>Are you sure that the people in all months don’t get the same questions? Or rather, are you sure that the January kids all got the same ones? </p>

<p>I never knew that people get different test questions on the same day… I thought that the order just switches?</p>

11

<p>dearsky,
I am sure. Because I saw CC threads debated over different sets of questions.</p>

12

<p>Oh, okay thanks skygirl for the clarification. (:</p>