Locate and Interpret SAT & ACT Scores

Standardized tests can be challenging, and their scoring systems may seem confusing at first. However, once you break them down, they’re often much easier to understand than they initially appear.

The SAT uses both raw scores and scaled scores to measure student performance, but they serve different purposes. A raw score is simply the number of questions a student answers correctly in each section of the test. There’s no penalty for wrong answers, so the raw score reflects only the total of correct responses. For example, answering 48 out of 52 questions correctly in the Reading section results in a raw score of 48.

However, colleges don’t see raw scores—they receive scaled scores, which are converted from the raw scores using a process called equating. This ensures fairness by adjusting for slight differences in difficulty between various test versions. Each main section—Math, and Evidence-Based Reading and Writing—is scored on a scale from 200 to 800, combining for a total score between 400 and 1600. This scaled score is what appears on official SAT score reports and is used for college admissions and comparisons.

For a deeper understanding of how SAT scores are calculated and what they mean, check out our detailed blog post, SAT Scores: What You Need To Know.

The scoring system for ChalkTalk’s imitation SAT differs slightly from the standard SAT administered by the College Board. In our version, all students begin the Math section with a base score of 200, regardless of their number of correct answers. Rather than using statistical scaling like the official SAT, we directly convert raw scores into section scores for both Math and Evidence-Based Reading and Writing (ELAR) using predefined SAT Score Charts.

For the ELAR score specifically, while the standard SAT uses a complex scaling process, our imitation SAT simplifies it: we add the individual Reading and Writing section scores together and then multiply that sum by 10. This results in a final ELAR scaled score ranging from 200 to 800.

To get the Math Conversion Chart, please visit here.

To get the ELAR Conversion Chart, please visit here.

Understanding raw scores can help you determine how many additional points—or how many more questions—you need to answer correctly to reach your target score (adapted from PrepMaven, SAT Goal Setting: The Ultimate Guide).

On the ACT, a raw score is the number of questions a student answers correctly in each of the four test sections: English, Math, Reading, and Science. There’s no penalty for wrong answers, so only correct responses contribute to the raw score. Each section has a different number of questions, so raw scores vary depending on the section.

These raw scores are then converted into scaled scores, which range from 1 to 36 for each section. The conversion adjusts for differences in test difficulty across versions, using a process called equating. The composite ACT score is the average of the four scaled section scores, rounded to the nearest whole number. Scaled scores allow colleges to fairly compare students who took different versions of the ACT.

You can download this ACT conversion chart to convert your ChalkTalk raw ACT scores into scaled scores. Your composite score—your overall ACT score—is the average of your four scale scores: English, Math, Reading, and Science.

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