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Your chance of acceptance
Duke University
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UCLA
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Your chancing factors
Unweighted GPA: 3.7
1.0
4.0
SAT: 720 math
200
800
| 800 verbal
200
800

Extracurriculars

Low accuracy (4 of 18 factors)

What does the SAT actually test you on?

Hi all, could someone please let me know what types of topics and skills the SAT is designed to test you on? Thanks in advance!

10 months ago

The SAT is a standardized test that many colleges use as part of their admissions process. It's designed to measure your critical thinking, problem-solving, and reasoning skills through sections that cover Reading, Writing and Language, and Math. Here's a quick breakdown of each section:

1. Reading: This section tests your reading comprehension, vocabulary, and your ability to analyze texts. The questions are based on passages from literature, history, social studies, and natural sciences. You'll encounter a variety of question formats, such as main idea, inference, evidence-support, and vocabulary-in-context questions.

2. Writing and Language: This section measures your grammar, usage, and editing skills. You'll be presented with passages from various contexts, containing sentences with errors. Your task is to identify and correct these errors by choosing the right answer from multiple-choice options. The question types cover grammar and usage, sentence structure, punctuation, style, and rhetoric.

3. Math: The Math section is divided into two parts: one with a calculator allowed and the other without a calculator. This section focuses on algebra, problem-solving and data analysis, advanced math (trigonometry, geometry, and complex numbers), and additional topics in math (basic geometry, data analysis, and basic statistics). Questions can be multiple-choice or grid-in, which involve providing a numerical answer without any multiple-choice options.

The SAT also includes an optional Essay section, which is scored separately and not factored into the overall score. The Essay requires you to analyze a text and build an argument based on the given evidence. This section primarily tests your critical reading and analytical writing skills.

In summary, the SAT tests you on reading comprehension, grammar, writing, and various math topics, with an optional essay portion to assess your analytical writing skills.

10 months ago

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