How full tests work

A full practice test runs like the SAT, and it scores like it too.

98 questions in 2 hr 14 min, in the order and timing of the digital SAT.
On this page5 sections
  1. Adaptive modules
  2. How hard each test is
  3. Not a curve
  4. Score ranges
  5. Time on each question

Your first module decides how hard your second one is.

Only the harder Module 2 reaches the top scores, so every Module 1 question counts twice.⁠The number you get right in Module 1 decides it, as on the digital SAT. Each one counts toward your score and toward your route.

Practice Test 1 matches an average SAT, and the others are slightly easier or harder.

Real SATs vary the same way. Each test can show you a different weakness.

  1. Practice Test 2Slightly easier than the average SAT.
  2. Practice Test 1About as hard as the average SAT.
  3. Practice Test 3Slightly harder than the average SAT.

Scoring adjusts for each test’s difficulty, and that isn’t a curve.

Your score depends only on your own answers and how hard your questions were, never on how other students did.⁠On a slightly harder test, each miss costs a little less. You’d usually get fewer right there, so your score comes out about the same. College Board calls this “equating”.

College Board’s one-page explanation

Sample

The same 72 right answers out of 98, on each test

  1. Practice Test 2Slightly easier1220
  2. Practice Test 1About average1290
  3. Practice Test 3Slightly harder1350
Each dot: 40 of 54 Reading and Writing and 32 of 44 Math right, with the harder Module 2 in both.

Your score comes as a range, because one test can’t pin it to one number.

A practice test samples what you know, so it gives the range your SAT score will likely fall in.⁠It counts your right answers and how hard your path’s questions were, matched to the scores College Board’s own practice tests give for the same work. Only College Board’s tests give official scores.

Sample results

1190 to 1270Most likely 1230

The usual time for each question fits that question.

Your results compare your time on each question with how long a prepared student usually needs.⁠It comes from research on reading speed and test timing, and it grows with a question’s length, its difficulty, any figure, and any extra time you test with.

Sample question

A right answer in the usual time earns extra XP.⁠The tick marks how fast the question goes when you already know the method. A fast, reliable method is what finishes a module.

Start with Practice Test 1, which matches an average SAT.

See the practice tests