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On April 5, all public school juniors took the SAT. In the beginning of May, students will get those test scores back and many of them will have questions. In this article, I’m going to answer some of those questions and explain how to use those scores to help you prepare for future tests.

What does my score mean? The SAT scores have gone back to the future, so to speak, and are once again calculated out of 1600. Last year’s admitted class at UConn had an average score of 1270, and the national average now is around 1030. That should give you a sense for where your whole score falls in comparison to the average. Let’s go more in depth. Students get two separate scores ranging from 200 to 800: Math and Evidence-Based Reading and Writing. This score is calculated based on a score from 10-40 for each Reading, Writing, and Math section. In addition, they get subscores from 1-15 in 7 different areas and cross-test subscores from 10 to 40 in two areas. That’s a lot of different numbers! Here’s a breakdown of how you can use all those different scores to help you prepare for the next test.

When should you plan to take the test again? Taking the test too late will be a problem for Early Action or Early Decision deadlines. To meet these deadlines, plan on taking the test in June, August (the first time the SAT is being given over the summer), and/or October. Before taking the test again, students should use their April test scores to help them prepare. Reviewing the 7 subscores can be useful in determining a plan. Specifically, three subscores can help you to formulate a preparation plan. The Standard English Conventions score focuses on grammar knowledge. If this score is low, you should do some grammar review – these are the underlined questions in the practice tests. Next, the Command of Evidence subscore assesses how well a student performed on the “Citing Evidence Questions.” There are at least two of these questions on each of the five reading passages in the Reading section. Understanding how to approach those questions will help a student improve in that area of the test. Finally, the largest topic covered on the Math section is algebra. The “Heart of Algebra” subscore shows how students performed in a few different skill areas including Linear Equations, Systems of Linear Equations, and Functions. Reviewing those skills and how to approach those problems can help a student significantly improve his or her math score.

For the April test, students will not get an essay score because the essay was not offered to students on the April test. If a student takes the optional essay on another test day, he or she will receive 3 different essay subscores. Each score will range from 2 to 8. The essay score does not contribute to the overall Evidence-Based Reading and Writing score. While not many schools currently require the optional essay, I would recommend taking it once. In the long run, a student is far better off having an essay score and not needing it than not having an essay score and finding out that one of their colleges requires it.

I recommend that students plan and prep to take the test in June. Then they can use the use the summer to study and take the test August 26 if necessary. Ideally a student would have his or her standardized testing complete before starting senior year. That way he or she can focus on finishing college applications and coursework without having to worry about the SAT or ACT.