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Content and Format of the SAT II Level 2 (SAT II Math IIC)
Imagine two people trekking through a jungle toward a magical and therapeutic waterfall. Now, who will reach the soothing waters first, the native to the area, who never stumbles because she knows the placement of every tree and all the twists and turns, or the tourist who keeps falling down and losing his way because he doesn’t pay any attention to the terrain? The answer is obvious. Even if the tourist is a little faster, the native will still win, because she knows how to navigate the terrain and turn it to her advantage.
There are no waterfalls or gorgeous jungle scenery on the SAT IIs, but this example illustrates an important point. The structure of the SAT II Math IIC is the jungle; taking the test is the challenging trek. Your score is the waterfall.
1. Content of the SAT II Math IIC
Math IIC covers a variety of mathematical topics. ETS, the company that writes the SAT IIs, provides the following breakdown of the topics covered on the test:
While accurate, this breakdown is too broad to really help you direct your studying toward the meaningful areas of the test. We’ve created the following detailed breakdown based on careful examination of the test:
2. General Format of the SAT II Math IIC
The SAT II Math IIC is a one-hour long test made up of 50 multiple-choice questions. The instructions for the test are straightforward. You should memorize them so you don’t waste time reading them on the day of the test.
For each of the following problems, decide which is the BEST of the choices given. If the exact numerical value is not one of the choices, select the choice that best approximates this value. Then fill in the corresponding oval on the answer sheet.
Simple, right? Unfortunately, the instructions don’t cover many important aspects about the format and rules of the test:
The 50 questions progress in order of difficulty, from the easiest to the hardest.
You can skip to different questions during the test. While you don’t want to skip around randomly, the ability to skip the occasional question is helpful, as we will explain in the next chapter.
All questions are worth the same number of points, regardless of the level of difficulty.
These facts can greatly affect your approach to taking the test, as we will show in the next chapter, on strategy.
The Calculator
Unlike the SAT I, in which a calculator is permitted but not essential to the test, the Math IIC test demands the use of a calculator. In fact, that’s what the “C” in IIC signifies. What’s more, some questions are specifically designed to test your calculator skills.
It is therefore wise to learn certain calculator essentials before taking the SAT II Math IIC. First off, make sure you have the right type of calculator. Virtually every type of calculator is allowed on the test, including the programmable and graphing kinds. Laptops, minicomputers, or any machine that prints, makes noise, or needs to be plugged in are not allowed.
Whatever calculator you use should have all the following functions:
Exponential powers
Base-10 logarithms
Sine, cosine, tangent
Make sure you practice performing these functions well before the day of the test.
Math IIC Scoring
Scoring on the SAT II Math IIC is very similar to the scoring for all other SAT II tests. For every right answer, you earn 1 point. For every wrong answer, you lose 1/4 of a point. For every question you leave blank, you earn 0 points. Add these points up, and you get your raw score. ETS then converts your raw score to a scaled score according to a special curve. We have included a generalized version of that curve in the table below. Note that the curve changes slightly for each edition of the test, so the table shown will be close to, but not exactly the same as, the table used by the ETS for the particular test you take. You should use this chart to convert your raw scores on practice tests into a scaled score.
In addition to its function as a conversion table, this chart contains crucial information: it tells you that you can do very well on the SAT II Math IIC without answering every question correctly. In fact, you could skip some questions and get some other questions wrong and still earn a “perfect” score of 800.
For example, in a test of 50 questions, you could score:
800 if you answered 44 right, 4 wrong, and left 2 blank
750 if you answered 40 right, 8 wrong, and left 2 blank
700 if you answered 35 right, 8 wrong, and left 7 blank
650 if you answered 30 right, 12 wrong, and left 8 blank
600 if you answered 25 right, 16 wrong, and left 9 blank
This chart should prove to you that when you’re taking the test, you should not imagine your score plummeting with every question you can’t confidently answer. You can do very well on this test without knowing or answering everything. So don’t get unnecessarily wound up if you run into a difficult question. The key to doing well on the SAT II Math IIC is to take the whole test well, and to follow a strategy that ensures you will answer all the questions you can, while intelligently guessing on the questions you feel less certain about.
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