BREAKDOWN OF INDIVIDUAL SECTIONS
section type
|
question types
|
# of sections on test |
total time
|
| Critical Reading | Sentence Completion & Passage-based Reading | 3 | 70 (one 20-min. section and two 25-min. sections) |
| Mathematics | Multiple Choice & Student-produced Reponse | 3 | 70 (one 20-min. section and two different 25-min. sections) |
| Writing | Essay, Improving Sentences, Identifying Sentence Errors, & Improving Paragraphs | 3 | 60 (two 25-min sections and a 10-min. section) |
TIMING
section order |
time given (min) |
type of section |
| 1 | 25 | Essay (Writing) |
| 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, & 7 | 25 | It Varies (Critical Reading, Mathematics, or Writing) |
| 8 & 9 | 20 | It Varies (Critical Reading, Mathematics, or Writing) |
| 10 | 10 | Multiple Choice (Writing) |
The SAT has a total of 10 sections. You will get a short break at the end of each hour of testing time. No matter where or when you take the test, you will always start with the 25-minute essay section and end with a 10-minute multiple-choice writing section. The second through the seventh sections are always 25-minutes each. The eighth and the ninth sections are always 20-minutes. That adds up to 3 glorious hours and 45 sweet minutes of test time alone. When you add in breaks and check-in time, you can expect to waste around 5 hours taking this test.
Although everyone is on the same schedule, they'll probably give you a different section type than the people sitting around you. So copying off your neighbor is actually more stupid than showing up unprepared.
Oh, and one of the ten sections doesn't count. Supposedly, it's only there to ensure that the College Board is not completely blowing it with how they make the test. Basically, they're going to use you as a guinea pig to test out new questions. Why? Because they can. You've got to admit that it's a pretty slick racket; you pay to take the test and they use you to create more tests. There is no way for you to figure out which section is the fake one, so you have to take it. Well played, College Board. Well played indeed.