2012-05-08 22:58:02
A few months ago, I wrote about how many questions students can miss and still crack 600 or 700 on the Critical Reading and Math sections of the SAT. Recently, a kind commenter (thank you!) reminded me that I still need to address this topic as it pertains to the Writing section.
Breaking down the Writing section is tricky. Unlike the Critical Reading and Math portions of the SAT, the Writing section contains an essay in addition to multiple choice (MC) questions. This essay (graded on a scale from 2 – 12) counts for 30% of your total writing score, and the MC raw score (out of 49) contributes 70%.
What do I need to crack 700 on the Writing section of the SAT?
--- Perfect-12 essays must combine with 40 raw MC points. This means you can either omit 9 MC questions or get 7 wrong, if you answer every Writing question on the test.
--- You can still break 700 with a 3-scoring essay, if you get every multiple choice question correct.
--- If your essay scores a 10 or 11, you can either omit 6, or miss 5 if every MC question is answered.
--- 8-scoring essays must combine with 46 raw points. To achieve this, you can omit 3 or miss 2 (if every question is answered).
--- A 6-scoring essay needs a grammar fiend! Omit or miss only 1 question to break 700.
--- If your essay got a 4, or 5 you need to get every MC question right to break 700.
How about 600?
--- A perfect 12 essay means you can break 600 with just 28 raw points. Thus, you can omit 21 questions, or get 17 wrong if you answer every writing question on the test.
--- 10-scoring essays require 32 raw points to break 600. So, you can omit 17, or get max 14 wrong.
--- For an essay that scores an 8 or 9, you can omit 13 challengers, or get 10 wrong (if every MC question is answered).
--- A 6-scoring essay needs 40 raw points. As we saw above, this means you can either omit 9 MC questions or get 7 wrong, if you answer every Writing question on the test.
--- If your essay is a 3, 4, or 5, you can omit 5 questions, or get 4 wrong, if all MC questions are answered.
--- 0-scoring essays (!) must combine with 46 raw points to crack 600. To achieve this, you can omit 3 multiple choice questions, or miss 2 (if every MC question is answered).