Scoring on the SAT II U.S. History is the same as scoring for all other SAT II tests: for every right answer, you earn one point; for every wrong answer, you lose ¹/₄ of a point; for every blank answer, you earn no points. These points combined equal your raw score. ETS then converts your raw score to a scaled score according to a special curve table tailored to the particular test you take. We have included a generalized version of that table below. (Note that because ETS changes the curve slightly for each edition of the test, the table will be close to, but not exactly the same as, the table used by ETS.) You should use this chart to convert your raw scores on practice tests into a scaled score.

In addition to its function as a conversion table, this chart contains crucial information: it tells you that you can do very well on the SAT II U.S. History without writing a perfect essay or answering every question correctly. In fact, you could skip some questions and get other questions wrong and still earn a “perfect” score of 800.

For example, in a test of 95 questions, you could score:

This chart should prove that when you’re taking the test, you shouldn’t imagine your score plummeting with every question you can’t confidently answer. You can do very well on this test without knowing or answering everything. The key is to follow a strategy that ensures that you will get to see and answer all the questions you can answer correctly, and then intelligently guess on those questions about which you are a little unsure. We will discuss these strategies in the next chapter.