In this video, we are going to talk about scoring and pacing, two things that are very intimately related on the SAT. But first, let's start off with just scoring. Sections are scored from 200 to 800. That goes for math, writing, and the critical reading section, so that's a total of 2400 points.

And you've probably heard that before, a perfect 2400. And of, all the way down to the bottom, to the 600. Now, most people get around 1500, give or take 200 points. That's where most test-takers end up. Down here at the 600 is, you know, you fall asleep at the testing center, you start drooling on your paper, and you wake up four hours later.

So, don't worry, you're not gonna get that low. And of course, once you're around an 1800, 1900, it's, it's pretty difficult to move up into the 2000s. Of course, if you're already in the 2000s, it's very difficult to get close to a perfect score. But again, each section is worth up to 800 points.

Now, points jump up, and in ten-point increments. So, I'll say something like, 1840 on the SAT. You'll never hear me say something like 1843. There are no one-point increments. Everything is a ten-point jump. Just an important thing to keep in mind.

Now, more importantly though, is this point. Every question is worth the same number of points. That's pretty mind blowing when you think about it. Why? Well, there's something called difficulty level on the SAT. There are easy questions, there are medium, and there are difficult, and sometime very difficult questions.

To think that each question is worth the same number of points is actually kind of weird. Why, you know, as me 2n plus, you know, 1 equals 3, solve the equation, and then have this crazy question with like, two circles stuck inside an equilateral triangle, and I get the same number of points? Well, don't question the logic of the test, but learn to strategize around the fact that each question, regardless of its difficulty level, is worth the same number of points.

And how do you strategize? Well, it comes back to pacing. You wanna spend most of your time going for the easy and medium questions, which you're likely to get correct, and kind of ignoring the difficult ones. Now on the math section, that's easy to do in terms of spotting which ones are easy, medium and difficult.

The higher up you go in the math section, for instance if it's a 20-question section and you're at number 18, guess what? It's gonna be hard. If you're at question three, it's gonna be easy. And if you're somewhere in the middle, question ten or 11, it's going to be a medium difficulty level question.

The same goes for the writing section. And make sure that you notice how the writing, one of the writing sections is broken up into one problem type, one through 11. Number 11 will be the hardest, and then it kinda resets in terms of difficulty level and starts with a new question type from 12 to 29, 12 being the easiest, 29 being the hardest.

So, pay attention to its difficulty level and spend most of your time on the easy and medium ones. And the logic here is to go for the low-hanging fruit. What does that mean? Well, if I have an apple tree and you really, really love apples and wanna eat them.

Well, if each apple, let's just say, on the tree is the exact same apple, you're not gonna climb to the really highest branch just to get that exact same apple that's hanging right above your head. You can just grab it and, boom, there's the apple. So you go for all the low-hanging fruit first, which are basically the easy and medium questions.

And so, in terms of pacing, you're not actually trying to finish the test. You don't need to finish every question. You don't get a magical medal or a super-big golden apple, no. The idea here is get the same number of points for the difficulty level. So, pace yourself, allow a lot of time for the reading passages, for instance, on the critical reading section.

So, when you go to the really difficult sentence completion section questions, the last two are very difficult, skip them. Come back to them if you have time, but spend that extra time reading the passages and answering those questions. Now, I should mention one final thing. On the reading passages, those questions, there is no order of difficulty.

That's the, really, the only place you'll find that besides that short paragraph at the end of the grammar section, which no one really cares about anyway. But it's important to know that when you're doing those reading passages, the first question you see won't be the easiest and the last one won't be the hardest. It's just kind of jumbled up.

It's random. So, keep that in mind, but otherwise go for the low-hanging fruit and practice this technique. So, if you're not used to doing this, take a practice test and try this. Apply this method and see how it affects your practice score or your total score. Your total score should go up by following this method.

And over time, when you become very proficient and you learn all your vocab, then you can start trying the difficult questions.