The SAT is a standardized test administered by the College Board, a non-profit organization that runs other programs including the PSAT (Preliminary SAT), AP (Advanced Placement), and CLEP (College-Level Examination Project). The SAT along with the ACT are the primary entrance exams used by colleges and universities in the United States. SAT originally stood for the Scholastic Aptitude Test.
The current SAT covers three required areas and the optional essay:
With the redesigned exam in 2016, the Writing section is now optional, and the exam is scored out of 1600 points (as it had been back before the Writing section had become a required component of the exam). You can earn 200 to 800 points for the Reading/Writing section of the exam, and 800 points for the Math section. A perfect score on the current exam is 1600, and you’ll find that most successful applicants to the country’s most selective colleges and universities have scores in the 1400 to 1600 range.