Every SAT test includes one 25-minute “experimental” section where the College Board tests new questions and material. It could be a math, reading or verbal section. The trouble is that you will not know which section is “experimental”, so you’re better off treating EVERY question like it counts!
- 1:56m - The Dreaded SAT Experimental Section (transcript)
Officially the dreaded SAT experimental section is called the variable section. The first section is going to have essays that are 25 minutes long. The essay will then be followed by another six 25 minute sections. There are then two 20 minute sections and one 10 minute section.
One of those multiple choice 25 minute sections is going to be an experimental one. The people who administer the SAT need to test questions for future exams. This is to see if enough people get them right and/or wrong. So they use you as guinea pigs!
Since one of those sections is going to be experimental, it does not count toward your grade. It’s very difficult to pick out the experimental section, but I’ll give you a little bit of a tip:
If you get to a section that seems really weird or has questions that you haven’t seen before and it’s somehow different from the rest, it’s probably the experimental one. Don’t panic. Stay positive. Just tell yourself it’s the experimental one and move on.
Now, if you get three 25 minute critical reading sections, one of them will have been the experimental one. If you get three 25 minute math sections, one of them will be the experimental one. And if you get two 25 minute writing sections, you’ll know one of those will be the experimental section.
So it’s kind of hard to tell which one it is until you’re almost finished, but if you get to one that’s weird and totally throws you off, don’t think “Oh my gosh, the whole thing’s going down the tube now!†Tell yourself “You know what, that one was weird, that one was harder than I expected. It’s probably the experimental oneâ€. Stay positive. Keep moving. That’s the way you maximize your SAT score.
Karl Schellscheidt
ePrep
www.eprep.com
Copyright 2006 — All Rights Reserved, ePrep, Inc.
May 3rd, 2008 at 5:04 pm
Hi I just took the test today and was kind of hoping one of the math sections with the grid ins
was the experimental section, is this possible?
Thank you!
May 4th, 2008 at 9:32 am
Ariel,
It is possible, but only if you had two 25-minute sections with grid-ins. Did you?
June 7th, 2008 at 1:41 pm
i just took my SAT today, and i know one of the reading sections was experimental because i had two with double passages. the first had 24 questions, and the second had 23 questions. i really messed up the first one and am hoping it’s the experimental, but i doubt it since only the first one had the 24 questions. does the sat reading section always have 67 questions in total, or can it vary a little bit?
i guess what i’m asking is, is it possible for the 23 question one have counted? or is it definitely experimental.
thanks.
June 8th, 2008 at 6:45 am
Vivian,
As far as I know, the 25-minute CR sections always has 24 questions. It seems odd that they would add a section with only 23. My gut tells me that the 23-questions section was the experimental one, but I could be wrong. In any case, don’t stress over it. There’s nothing you can do anyway. It’s June; think summer!
June 9th, 2008 at 5:48 am
hi, I just took my SAT I on June 7th. I had this easy writing section right after the essay section and I had this extra writing section for my sixth section. and the second writing section was relaly really hard. Does that mean the sixth section was the experimental b/c it was harder?
June 9th, 2008 at 7:31 am
Jay,
Based on your account, I am 99% sure that the sixth section was the experimental one. Let me know if you can figure it out, when you receive your scores. Thanks.
June 9th, 2008 at 9:35 am
For the June test,
Reading Experimental: you had this one if you had a passage about cameras in the courtroom
Math Experimental: First question of the math experimental was about which number was the lowest
Writing Experimental: If you had 3 writing sections, then you had the writing experimental
June 9th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
Thanks, Brendan. I remember those problems. How are you so sure, by the way?
June 9th, 2008 at 6:02 pm
hi, it turns out that you’re right about the sixth section being the experimental section ( I just checked collegeboard right now). But I still have a few more questions. I have many SAT preparation books and I checked all of their Scoring Sheets but somehow my friends’ scores didn’t really apply to the Score Sheets. For example, my friend got an 8 on the essay and missed about 2 - 3 questions on MC but got around 690. ON the Score guides, he should have gotten some thing around 750. SO..I’m kind of confused, but I still know that the scores are based on its curve but i think its still kind of weird for the score to be that low. And can you tell me what I would get if I get an 8 and miss 0 - 2 questions on the writing section? THANK U SO MUCH
July 2nd, 2008 at 9:20 pm
Hey, is it possible for collegeboard to mess up my SAT scores? As in, switching it with someone else’s or grading it incorrectly? b.c. my SAT scores were a lot lower than I expected. I’m still waiting for the full report but after that can I ask collegeboard to recheck my answers?
July 3rd, 2008 at 8:05 am
Kaisen,
It is entirely possible that the College Board made a mistake. If the full report strengthens your suspicions, you should definitely follow up with a College Board representative.
July 6th, 2008 at 7:43 pm
Hi, I am a hispanic student who moved from guatemala when I was 10 years old knowing no english at all. I am now going to be a senior who hope to get into a few Ivy league schools (all actually except Dartmout and Cornell). I took the SAT test in May of my junior year and got CR-670 Math-550 (kind of bad I know) and Writing-720. I am involved in NHS, Student Council, Renaissance (a Jostens’ sponsored club), Interact (Rotary sponsored), plus a lot of community service hours and an after school job. This fall is my last chance to really showcase my abilities and strengths. I have a 4.0 unweighted, 4.7 weighted, all honors and a.p. classes (my school offers very few a.p. courses but I will take all of the ones available). Also, I need help deciding which subject tests to take. Would it look bad to take the spanish subject test because I’m fluent in spanish? What advice could you give me on improving my chances for such top tier schools?
Thank you so much and I appreciate any advice you can give me.
July 7th, 2008 at 7:47 am
Maria,
If you go nuts reading and studying vocabulary over the summer, you should be able to bump your CR score up into the 700s. The math, however, is the score that really concerns me. Someone as smart as you should be able to score somewhere north of 650. While I have been relatively modest about pushing ePrep products and services, I do think that an ePrep program can guide you through the process of improving your math score. You may want to start with the free trial. Whatever you do, just don’t give up on yourself. Self confidence and the willingness to work will make all the difference.
As far as SAT subject tests go, you should definitely take a math in addition to Spanish. Let’s face it, there’s a big difference between speaking a language fluently and scoring high on a written test that covers grammar, etc.
Keep up the good work! Hope to hear from you again soon.
July 8th, 2008 at 12:25 am
Thank you so much Karl. By the way, I took the practice SAT Subject Tests yesterday and got 800 in Spanish (I got all questions correct) and 720 in U.S. History. I really don’t understand how I can’t score higher in math since this is one of my best subjects in school. How well do you think I could do on the math subject one considering my math score in the SAT?
July 8th, 2008 at 12:39 am
Thank you so much Karl. By the way, I took a practice subject test yesterday in spanish and I got an 800 (I got all questions correct) and a 720 in U.S. History. Regarding my math, I really don’t know why my score is so low since math is one of my best subjects and I will be taking ap calculus next yr. Do you think I could be able to bring it up into the 700’s by the Oct. test date? And considering my math score in the SAT should I take a subject test in it?
July 8th, 2008 at 2:01 am
Sorry for the double comment! I thought the first one didn’t go through :=)
July 8th, 2008 at 7:49 am
Maria,
You should be able to score very high on the math level 1 subject test. It is very similar to the kind of test you would get in school. In other words, it is much more straightforward than the math on the SAT reasoning test.
That being said, you should definitely do a couple of practice tests before you take the real one.
Good luck.