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Hello~
Although I'm from Canada, I'm taking my SAT's tomorrow to broaden up my choices a little bit once I start applying for university.
I just have a few questions with the worth of each question
I know that:
if you get a questions right, 1 point
if you get a question wrong, -0.25 points
if you don't answer a question, 0 points
So in this case, would it be best to not answer all questions if you don't know every single one? And if you omit some, how does that effect your mark?
And I'm a little confused with how the omitting of a question works.
Ex. If there are 10 questions, and I answer 6 of them, and "omit" (not do) the other 4 questions, and lets say I get all 6 of my answered questions correct.
- Would I get like 6/6? or would it still be like 6/10?
Any clarification would be must appreciated since I couldn't find a direct answer to my question on the internet, they all just state that you gain a point when you answer right, lose 0.25 points when wrong, etc.
Thank you!
 
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I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure that as long as you can narrow it down to 3 choices it'd be better to guess than leave it blank, 4 is even either way.
It would be 6/10, not 6/6.
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well, it really depends on your goal score.
if you're aiming for 600s range, I would suggest following the general rule of thumb in my area, which is guess if you can eliminate two answer choices.
if you're aiming for like 700+ I'd suggest answering everything.
this is within a realistic scale of your scores, of course.
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Ooooooooo!
oh okay. So take the same example, answer 6, omit 4, but got 2 wrong.
It would be plus 1 for the 4 questions I got right (4 pts). Then from those 4, minus an additional 0.50pts because of the 2 questions wrong.
Totaling to 3.5/10
yes?
Mmm, I want to try to get above 700, but I didn't study as much as I would've liked to due to school and stuff. So in that case, it would be best to just to answer all the questions even if I don't know?
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I think it's better off just answering everything. Even though you get a -0.25 per question missed, all you have to do is get 1 outta 4 unsure answers correctly to be "even." And if you can eliminate 1-2 choices, you should definitely guess.
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Usually, by some common sense, you can eliminate two of the answers, making omitting answer dumb. Doing all the SAT is the best way to go, imo.
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the best way to do the SAT is just to answer everything. i recommend taking it twice, especially if you haven't taken specialized prep classes. doing well on the sat is all about knowing what kind of questions the sat asks. you really shouldn't be guessing because all the questions are really straightforward to begin with.
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IMO, from taking the SAT, answer every question you can. Based on the assumption that your estimated guessing is even a little bit better than random guessing, even if you can't rule out any answers, you will likely break even with random guessing (for example closing your eyes and pointing at an answer). I'd assume that you can likely tell one or more answer choice(s) may be partly/significantly BS, especially for verbal/writing, so in almost all scenarios, you should guess.
To answer your example as to whether 6/6 or 6/10 is seen differently, no, the only number that matters is the number of questions you get right - 0.25 x the number of questions you get wrong (also called the Raw Score. If a raw score of 6 happens to be a 500 in that section, it doesn't matter how many questions you omitted, the only number that matters is the raw score.
As you say you're going for a 700+, I would definitely answer everything. Another thing to consider is that they will round up. So say there are 20 questions in the math section, so the highest raw score is 20. Say you 100% know 18, so your raw score is an 18. That leaves 2 more; if you omit them both, you get an 18, while if you guess on both, at worst, you miss both, get a 17.5 raw score, which rounds up to 18 (only whole numbers are taken as raw scores. So if you feel you do have an SAT section down to where you likely don't completely know only 1/2 questions, definitely guess on them.
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Asking about the SAT's on Teamliquid is like asking for starcraft tips on battle.net. You get a lot of uneducated answers. Collegeconfidential is better, but you don't have much time.
Statistically, there is not loss or benefit from guessing on the SAT's. I hate it when I have to prove this to teachers or sat test instructors.
If you answer five questions and get one right (complete guessing) you get +1 point and -.25*4 = 0 points. You break even.
If you leave five questions blank you get 0 points. It's the same thing.
The only difference between guessing or not is that when you guess you increase the variance of your score. You could score higher or lower than you should.
Now it is impossible to have no idea what a question is asking, and even if you can't eliminate one answer, even having some feel towards one answer warrants picking it. Always try to answer every question . Despite a popular rumor, studies have shown that checking you work is beneficial. Don't overthink things, the SAT test makers aren't here to trick you, but don't just blindly rush through.
Now get some sleep. Before your exam tomorrow, go to the bathroom. Good luck 
To answer your example as to whether 6/6 or 6/10 is seen differently, no, the only number that matters is the number of questions you get right - 0.25 x the number of questions you get wrong (also called the Raw Score. If a raw score of 6 happens to be a 500 in that section, it doesn't matter how many questions you omitted, the only number that matters is the raw score.
This is right. Everyone else, don't give an answer to a blog if you know nothing about the topic. You aren't helping.
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I always just guessed on everything; omitting and getting it wrong are pretty close anyway. If you're trying to get 750+, especially for math, the curve gets kind of ridiculous, so if you're at the point where you're getting 4 wrong you might as well just guess and pray, since if you omit you're basically condemning yourself to a retake.
If you have to guess: Pretty much every answer choice is there for some purpose--the testers are trying to make it hard to guess. If you're lost, try to figure out the rationale behind the choices.
The testmakers will do the problem, intentionally screw up at some point like a student would, and then put the result as one of the choices. If you don't know exactly how to do the problem but you have some inkling of what not to do, try reverse engineering some of the choices and you can eliminate quite a few of the dumber ones. You can also get hints on how to do the problem based on what the answer choices are doing.
One way to guess that I'm fond of but that doesn't actually work: 2 of the answers might be alike in some way, and the other 3 answers will also be alike. Eliminate the 2; then, out of the 3 answers remaining, 2 will probably be alike in some way, so eliminate the 1, and then you have a 50/50 roll!
And I guess it's kind of too late, but one way to study is to sort of analyze the types of questions they ask. The SAT test writers basically copy-paste from a list of like 20ish(I made that up) questions and then replace numbers/words/move the front of the sentence to the back of the sentence. Good luck!
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This is right. Everyone else, don't give an answer to a blog if you know nothing about the topic. You aren't helping.
Woah dude, calm the fuck down. We're just trying to help.
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It would be a 6/10. Just to be totally honest, it isn't a good sign that you don't know how the scoring works. I would hope you've taken practice tests but you score yourself on these tests so it doesn't seem likely. An average score is around 1600 for the test, which is around 530 on each section.
If you want to get into prestigious universities (ivies etc) your gunna want a 2100+, possibly higher. If you don't know the answer to a question narrow it down as much as you can. My rule was if I can get it down to 2 options I would guess. For the math section work quickly and efficiently. The math questions are sometimes tricky. If your spending more than 2 minutes on a problem just skip it and come back if you have time.
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On June 04 2011 11:53 holy_war wrote:Show nested quote +This is right. Everyone else, don't give an answer to a blog if you know nothing about the topic. You aren't helping. Woah dude, calm the fuck down. We're just trying to help.
Have you thought about the consequences to your "help"?
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The -0.25 is to scare you, the rule of thumb used by top institutes and tutors is always guess if you can eliminate at least one answer, if not even one (which should be impossible if you have common sense and basic knowledge), then do not guess at all.
Btw that 6/6 or 6/10 question is a very careless question, you should not be asking it one day before the SATs. Sorry for being harsh, but I learned how the SATs worked in 6th grade. It obviously is not the 6/6 as I can just answer 1 question right on the SAT, leave everything else blank, and get a perfect score.
Obvious mistakes during a test are:
-Lack of breathing (a lot of people do not notice this themselves), breathing is important, do it normally!
-Finish the easy questions first, unlike middle school where the hard questions are like 5x points from the work and steps, all questions on the SAT are worth the same! So do not try to do the hard ones and get "more points", as you will not.
-Before writing the essay, understand it first. Then plan and organize it, think of what and how you are going to write. Finally, proofread it. A good essay relates to the writer himself and the community around him. A strong thesis is crucial to getting a good score.
-Really obvious: good night's sleep and breakfast >.>
http://www.amazon.com/Kaplan-SAT-2011-Strategies-Practice/dp/1419549952
This could have really helped you if you bought it 6 months before the test, provides a COMPLETE OVERVIEW on the test and how it works, good STRATEGIES AND PREPARATIONS, planning out essays and answering questions, and FOUR complete practice tests with detailed explanations. The size of the book shows how much information it has, and it is only $11 with free shipping.
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Unless you are COMPLETELY unsure about a question (which is probably gonna be rare for SAT), you should always guess, even if you cannot eliminate a single question. But u should really work on process of elimination, to eliminate at least 2 answers.
credentials: 2400 on sat
/end brag
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On June 04 2011 11:52 CreamyButter wrote:
I always just guessed on everything; omitting and getting it wrong are pretty close anyway. If you're trying to get 750+, especially for math, the curve gets kind of ridiculous, so if you're at the point where you're getting 4 wrong you might as well just guess and pray, since if you omit you're basically condemning yourself to a retake.
^THISSS I got a 720 on the SAT math w/ only 2 wrong and 2 omitted out of fucking 54 questions.
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the curve on the CR section is pretty steep too.
I got 800/800/740 with 740 on CR, and I only missed 2 questions on CR (December 2009 test)
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On June 04 2011 12:14 phosphorylation wrote:
Unless you are COMPLETELY unsure about a question (which is probably gonna be rare for SAT), you should always guess, even if you cannot eliminate a single question. But u should really work on process of elimination, to eliminate at least 2 answers.
credentials: 2400 on sat
/end brag
Seconded.
I didn't guess, and I'm guessing that you didn't guess either, but yeah. Unless one has absolutely no idea whatsoever as to the answer, guess.
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On June 04 2011 13:16 Z3kk wrote:Show nested quote +On June 04 2011 12:14 phosphorylation wrote:
Unless you are COMPLETELY unsure about a question (which is probably gonna be rare for SAT), you should always guess, even if you cannot eliminate a single question. But u should really work on process of elimination, to eliminate at least 2 answers.
credentials: 2400 on sat
/end brag
Seconded. I didn't guess, and I'm guessing that you didn't guess either, but yeah. Unless one has absolutely no idea whatsoever as to the answer, guess.
This is true.
Questions within each section are harder as they go. So number 20 is supposed to be harder than number 15. In other words, if you're stuck on a late question in a given section, don't pick the answer that seems "too easy." This is especially important on the English section if you happen to have poor vocabulary.
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answer every question
here's how it works: 1 point for getting it right, -.25 points for getting it wrong. So the expected value for answering the question is .2*1 -..8*.25 = 0.0, vs. 0 for not answering. So, if you even have a slight clue about answering the question youo should always answer it. Just knocking off one of the answers makes it fully in your advantage to answer. So unless you have a good idea of the amount of points you have, and losing that .25 will make a significant difference, answer the damn questions.
here's another hint: if you get a question that looks like this:
I only
I and II only
I and III only
II and III only
I, II, and II
guess which one I know is a wrong answer right off the bat.
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If you get a question and you can't eliminate a single choice, something's wrong.
(with you, not the test)
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To the OP. The fact you had to ask that question makes me nervous for you. The reasoning was already explained in the previous posts.
Nevertheless I wish you the best of luck. Try to do some research in etymology of words regarding prefixes and suffixes; it might be of some help with the Critical Readin section
Also, since your post was at 11:11 I'll wish for you to get a good score.
On June 04 2011 14:11 Caller wrote:here's another hint: if you get a question that looks like this: guess which one I know is a wrong answer right off the bat.
LOL. The pattern would suggest that " II and III only" is the wrong answer, but I can imagine someone being a dick and making that one the right answer and putting the option " I " in all others just to mess with kids' heads.
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LOL if it was like that obv the last one is wrong. He wrote I II and II (instead of III) loll.
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this isnt a direct answer, but it is relevant
for the SAT, all questions, whether they are super easy or super hard, are worth the same. so if you have doubts on a question and dont know the answer in 30 seconds, then mark it and skip it and just nail all the ones you are sure on. from there, use your judgment - if you can eliminate one or two options, it is probably in your favor to guess.
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On June 04 2011 17:48 wherebugsgo wrote:
LOL if it was like that obv the last one is wrong. He wrote I II and II (instead of III) loll.
I figured it was a careless typo. if it were "I, II and II" it would imply "I and II" and either both options (b) and (e) are right or wrong. So that makes for either 2 or 3 wrong choices, rather than one, as the guy who posed the question pointed out.
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I just went through my SAT testing last year, and I think I'm somewhat qualified to speak on it. You will basically break even if you can eliminate one answer b/c you have a 25% chance of getting the answer right to offset the -.25 point penalty, which is meant to discourage blind guessing.
So basically, if you can eliminate 2, just go for it and guess. If you're aiming for a 750+, consider that the raw score is rounded UP, so you can miss two your raw score will be the same as if you had left the answers blank.
When I took the SAT and its affiliated subject tests, I was never in a situation where I could only eliminate an answer. Sometimes I had to choose btwn 2 or 3, and that's when I just guessed. Worked out pretty well, I got a 2310.
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EPT
