SparkNotes: SAT II Writing: Scoring SAT II Writing

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Please Note:
The last administration of the SAT II Writing was on 1/22/05. Beginning 3/12/05, parts of the SAT II Writing test will be included in the New SAT. You should be studying the New SAT book. Go there!

2.1	Content of SAT II Writing

2.2	How Reading Trashy Magazines Will Help Your Score

2.3	General Format of SAT II Writing

2.4	Rules of the Test

2.5	Scoring SAT II Writing

Scoring SAT II Writing

As we said previously, because the SAT II Writing Test contains an essay as well as multiple-choice questions, calculating your raw score for this test is a little more complicated than it is for other SAT II tests.

To calculate your total raw score for SAT II Writing, you need to calculate your raw scores for the essay and for the multiple-choice, and then add the two together. Calculating your raw score for the multiple-choice is easy. Just follow the normal procedures:

Calculating your essay raw score is also easy. Take the grade that you receive on your essay, which can range between 2–12, and multiply that number by 3.43.

The number 3.43 seems like a strange and arbitrary number, but the test writers use this multiplication by the number 3.43 to make the essay have the precise weight in your final score that they want.

Your total raw score is the sum of your multiple-choice raw score and essay raw score:

ETS takes this raw score and converts it to a scaled score according to a special curve. We have included a generalized version of that curve in a table below. (Note that because ETS changes the curve slightly for each edition of the test, this table will be close to, but not exactly the same as, the table used by ETS.)

Raw Score	Scaled Score	Raw Score	Scaled Score	Raw Score	Scaled Score
101	800	63	560	25	370
100	800	62	560	24	370
99	800	61	550	23	360
98	800	60	550	22	360
97	800	59	540	21	350
96	800	58	540	20	350
95	800	57	530	19	340
94	800	56	530	18	340
93	800	55	520	17	330
92	790	54	520	16	330
91	780	53	510	15	320
90	770	52	510	14	320
89	760	51	500	13	310
88	750	50	500	12	310
87	740	49	490	11	300
86	740	48	490	10	300
85	730	47	480	9	300
84	720	46	480	8	290
83	710	45	470	7	290
82	700	44	470	6	280
81	690	43	460	5	280
80	680	42	460	4	280
79	680	41	450	3	270
78	670	40	450	2	270
77	660	39	440	1	260
76	650	38	440	0	260
75	650	37	430	–1	260
74	640	36	430	–2	260
73	630	35	420	–3	250
72	620	34	420	–4	250
71	610	33	410	–5	250
70	600	32	410	–6	250
69	600	31	400	–7	240
68	600	30	400	–8	240
67	590	29	390	–9	240
66	590	28	390	–10	230
65	580	27	380
64	570	26	380

You should use this chart to convert your raw score into a scaled score. In order to do so, you will have to grade your essay in some way. Perhaps a parent or teacher can help you, if you explain the criteria by which an essay is graded. If you can’t find anyone to grade your essay, you can use the conversion chart below to get a sense of how you’re doing in the mutiple-choice section.

Raw Score	Scaled Score	Raw Score	Scaled Score	Raw Score	Scaled Score
60	80	36	55	12	40
59	80	35	55	11	39
58	79	34	54	10	38
57	78	33	54	9	37
56	77	32	52	8	37
55	75	31	52	7	36
54	74	30	51	6	35
53	72	29	51	5	35
52	71	28	50	4	34
51	70	27	50	3	33
50	69	26	49	2	32
49	67	25	48	1	31
48	66	24	48	0	30
47	65	23	47	–1	30
46	65	22	46	–2	29
45	64	21	46	–3	28
44	63	20	45	–4	27
43	62	19	44	–5	26
42	61	18	43	–6	25
41	60	17	43	–7	24
40	59	16	42	–8	23
39	58	15	42	–9	23
38	57	14	41	–10	22
37	56	13	40

In addition to their function as conversion tables, these charts contain crucial information: they tell you that you can do very well on the SAT II Writing without writing a perfect essay or answering every question correctly. In fact, you could skip some questions and get some other questions wrong and still earn a “perfect” score of 800.

For example, in a test of 60 questions, you could score:

Score	Multiple-choice right	Multiple-choice wrong	Blank	Essay score
800	55	2	3	12
800	58	2	0	11
750	55	4	1	10
700	52	5	3	10
650	48	6	6	10
600	42	8	10	10
550	36	9	15	8

This chart should prove to you 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 you’re unsure of. We will discuss these strategies in the next chapter.

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