Target SAT Score by Guest Blogger Ellie An (Current HS Junior)

I think that a good SAT score is anything from 1500-1600. Personally, I know people in my school who have gotten really close to a 1600. They scored above 1550. I believe that a good SAT score carries currency for teenagers among their peers because a lot of people like to post their scores for everyone to see. Of course, they usually only post good scores so others will see how smart they are.

I think that getting a high score gets you a lot of recognition in school from teachers or other students. It's also really common for people's SAT scores to be rapidly spread throughout the grade since people want to know who got the highest score and who got the lowest.

If people don't post their scores, other people just assume that they didn't score well, and it's likely that a negative rumor would spread. This generally puts more pressure on students because not only do they want to get into a good college, but they also want to look good and present themselves as smart people.

A bad SAT score is dependent on the individual person. In my opinion, anything below a 1450 is a bad score. However, I'm sure that other students know how hard it is to score high on this test, so their idea of a low/bad score may vary (also depending on what school they want to go to).

A "good" SAT score only really matters for students who care about their grades, image, college, and reputation. There are students who don't care at all, and, honestly, that's a more peaceful way to think and live. Although for everyone else, the pressure weighs them down all throughout high school until the SAT score results come out like a ticking time bomb.

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Generally, ELA is thought to be harder than math since there are more questions on the ELA section and more material to really analyze/comprehend. Math is usually considered to be easier since a lot of it is just basic math that we learn in school or using Desmos, the built-in SAT calculator.

There are hard questions in both sections, of course. That's undeniable. However, the English section tends to have more extra-difficult questions. So, a better English score is usually more impressive than a good math score since math is often somewhat easier. But, it's all, truly, dependent on what kind of student you are and what subjects you're better at. In my opinion, I think they should have the same weight among students, but, on the other hand, it's a subjective matter and can't necessarily be decreed from above.

(Ellie is a high school junior. She'll be taking the SAT this August. She hopes to score a good score on the SAT.)