SAT scores are based on a student's percentile relative to other students taking the same test. When a student takes the SAT, the first thing that is calculated is a student's raw score in each of the three sections. This is simply the number of questions a student gets right, minus a penalty for those that a student gets wrong. Questions left unanswered do not factor into the raw score. While the Critical Reading and Math sections each have one raw score, two raw scores are calculated for the writing section: a multiple-choice raw score and an essay raw score, which are ultimately combined into one scaled score.
These raw scores are then compared, and the percentile for each section is calculated. For example, a raw score of 40 (out of 60) on the math section usually puts a student in the 75th percentile. This means that this student is in the top 25%, and scored higher than roughly 75% of all students taking the test.
The percentile score is then converted into a score ranging from 200-800. These scores are based on a bell curve, so that most students score from 400-600. The curve below illustrates the distribution of scores:
The same raw score of 40 on the math section would earn a scaled score of roughly 600. Looking at the graph above, one can see that a score of 600 places one ahead of about three quarters of the population.
The following is a list of raw scores and their corresponding scaled scores. In this chart, only the multiple-choice scaled score of the writing section is shown.
| Raw Score | Critical Reading (67 Questions) |
Math (54 Questions) |
Writing (49 questions + essay) |
| 67 | 800 | ||
| 65 | 740-800 | ||
| 60 | 660-760 | ||
| 55 | 630-710 | ||
| 54 | 620-700 | 800 | |
| 50 | 600-660 | 690-770 | |
| 49 | 590-650 | 680-740 | 78-80 |
| 45 | 560-620 | 630-690 | 70-80 |
| 40 | 530-590 | 580-660 | 64-74 |
| 35 | 500-560 | 540-620 | 59-69 |
| 30 | 470-530 | 510-570 | 54-64 |
| 25 | 440-500 | 470-530 | 49-59 |
| 20 | 410-470 | 430-490 | 45-55 |
| 15 | 380-440 | 400-460 | 40-50 |
| 10 | 340-400 | 340-420 | 35-45 |
| 5 | 270-370 | 280-380 | 30-40 |
| 0 | 200-290 | 210-310 | 24-34 |
| -5 | 200-210 | 200-210 | 20-23 |
The following is a list of scaled scores and their corresponding percentiles from the Old SAT:
| Scaled Score | Verbal Percentile |
Math Percentile |
| 800 | 99+ | 99 |
| 750 | 98 | 98 |
| 700 | 95 | 93 |
| 650 | 89 | 85 |
| 600 | 78 | 74 |
| 550 | 64 | 59 |
| 500 | 46 | 43 |
| 450 | 29 | 27 |
| 400 | 15 | 14 |
| 350 | 7 | 6 |
| 300 | 3 | 2 |
| 250 | 1 | 1 |
| 200 | 1 | 1 |