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Archive for the ‘SAT II US History’ Category

The second most taken SAT exam and therefore one of the most requested by different collages is the SAT US history test. It encompasses over 1000 years of history although the history of the native Indians is only 20% of the exam despite it being over half the reviewed period. However the focus of the exam is that of the US history and it has been split in to two parts, each worth 40% of the exam, and that is from 1790 to 1898 and from 1898 to present day. Covering that much ground is of course a daunting task but it is one that needs to be solved within 1 hour, the length of time allowed for the SAT US history test.

The scoring in the SAT US history test is 1 point per correct question answered and ¼ points taken away for an incorrect answer. If a question is left unanswered then its score is 0. So it is better not to answer some of the questions rather than answer them out of a hunch. After this raw score is received it is converted to a scaled score where the difficulty of the exam is factored in to achieve a final scoring scale from 200 to 800. There are 95 multiple choice questions so a perfect score would mean taking the test on the most difficult level and answering all 95 questions correctly. The average score however is 599 with a standard deviation of 115. So if you can go as high as 700 on the SAT US history test you are pretty much guaranteed to have your pick at your collage choice.

One of the most important things you need to take in to account with the SAT US history test is that the difficulty level of the questions does not affect its score. That is to say a very difficult question about some obscure historical fact or about the socio-political implications of another earns just one point, just like the most obvious question about the way Lincoln died. Also there is no predetermined order for the questions to be answered so you might want to go through them once answering the easy ones as fast as possible, particularly if there are some that just jump out at you. Alternatively you could answer all of them in a row but leaving the most difficult ones unanswered so you will have more time to consider them after you will have answered the bulk. In either case use all the flexibility of the SAT US history exam to your advantage so as to score the highest percentage.

And as you are preparing for the SAT US history test remember that although you may have a preference towards a particular branch of history the test is actually fairly impartial. That is to say although 32% to 36% of questions focus on political history, economic and social history both get 18 to 22 % each, so almost 40% of the entire exam so you will need the 20% to 30% that is additionally required by the intellectual and cultural history as well as the US foreign policy. So preparing for the SAT US history test you should focus on being proficient on all these aspects of history, not favoring one or the other.