What SAT Score Should I Aim For?
Your goal score depends on two things:
The SAT tests critical thinking -- which isn’t always taught in schools.
The pressure surrounding the SAT can cause massive amounts of test anxiety and lower your scores
A “good SAT score” is always relative to your situation, although there are certain significant cutoffs.
The way you talk to your student about the SAT affects how they perform.
What Should My Goal SAT Score Be?
There are two questions parents usually ask when thinking about SAT prep:
How much should I aim to improve?
What is a good SAT score?
These questions are relative for every student! Here is how to understand what your student should be aiming for.
What is your starting score?
If you have a 400, it is not reasonable to expect that you’ll jump to an 800 in two weeks. It’s like losing weight -- if you want to keep the weight off, you’ll start slow, losing a pound or two each week. Instead, gently ease your student to a 500 and celebrate that accomplishment before pushing for a 600.
As you get closer to an 800, the points get harder to accrue. It is significantly easier to go from a 200 to a 400 than a 600 to an 800. Since the test is graded on a curve, the 800 is kept very difficult to achieve.
How much do you already know the subject matter?
What is your ability level in Reading, Writing, and Math, as the SAT tests them? This is different than your natural ability with these subjects - it’s your ability to attack these questions the way the SAT sees them. This is different than how these subjects are taught and tested in schools - which is why many students do well in school and not-so-well on the SAT.
Critical Thinking
The SAT tests critical thinking, which many schools don’t prioritize. Don’t worry if your critical thinking isn’t where it needs to be for the SAT - that’s a great thing to work on with your tutor, class, or other test prep.
How much test anxiety do you suffer from?
Students often feel that SAT is a predictor of everything that will happen to you for the rest of your life. That’s terrifying to hear, especially when you’re sixteen or seventeen!
The more stress a student is under, the more their test anxiety grows, and the lower their score gets (cortisol, the stress hormone, can cut off some of our critical thinking skills.) Imagine that the brain is a jar of water; if you take some of that water out to deal with anxiety, there is less capacity left to deal with the rest of the test. Read more about test anxiety here!
So what is a good SAT score?
Test prep is different for every kid, so a good score is always relative to:
Where you start
What college you want to get into
It’s easy to compare scores, but one goal isn’t better than the other - it’s just the score that will get you into the college you want to get into!
One significant measure of a good score is whether you are breaking the barrier to a scholarship or acceptance. A common barrier is 1000; getting a 500 on each section can make the difference in your application being looked at and not. The 1400 barrier is difficult for many students to get, so breaking 700 on each section is significant at highly selective schools.
What should I tell my student?
The overall takeaway is to not over-emphasize SAT scores to your student. Students are under a tremendous amount of pressure to succeed, compete with their peers, and get into the best college. Set a reasonable goal to work towards, and celebrate achievements!
