So if you’re getting down on the test? As one of the test-takers said, “Just keep on trucking.” While the students we talked to had varied schedules, varied goals, and varied eating habits (yep, we were thorough), they all emphasized the importance of persistence. This is especially true if you’re currently taking any math at the Trig/Algebra II level or below, but it’s true for English students at every level. Not only are grades and your curriculum going to be the main factors determining your college admissions (test scores are actually the second biggest factor), but you’ll also learn things that will help you ace the SAT. Again, the SAT is tricky, but you shouldn’t need to write a paragraph to explain why the correct answer choice was right. But what we’ve heard from some students who got a perfect SAT score is that it’s important not to overthink the test-because it’s not, at the end of the day, a trick! Even if you’ve studied extensively for the test, you might find that you start second-guessing yourself and justifying wrong answer choices. Think strategically-but don’t overthink.You can be an absolute, bona fide genius, but if you walk into the exam room without ever having seen the test before-and more than that, without having studied its format, question types, and quirks-you’re not getting a 1600.

No matter how people talk about it, the SAT is not and never has been an IQ test. Learn the test, not just the material on it.What separates those test-takers from the ones who might have gotten a perfect SAT score but didn’t is that they kept going. This happens to so many high-scoring students. You will come across times when you don’t want to study. 20 hours over the four days before the test will actually end up being a lot less useful than spending five hours a week for four weeks preparing (and even less useful than doing it over 10 weeks!). In other words, not all study time is created equal. When it comes to SAT prep, 20 hours aren’t 20 hours, and 50 hours aren’t 50 hours. Did you visit a competitive college and fall in love with it? Did your parents dress you in onesies with “YALE” on them? Do you want to prove something to yourself? There’s no bad reason to aim for a high score-but the more specific our high scorers were, the easier they found it was to get through the hard times and stay persistent with their drive for a perfect SAT score. (The College Board, the test-maker, has some great practice tests you can use for both practice and comparison.) Whatever you do, make sure that those materials mirror what you’ll see on test day. So be choosy in your materials: get testimonials, statistics, previews. Lousy materials just teach you what their writers think the SAT is about-not what the SAT is actually about. If you’re not using test-like materials, that’s not only a waste of time, but it’s also damaging to your score. They took them apart to understand how they worked. They looked at practice tests and practice questions. Over and over again, students told us that learning about the test was super important to their success. As we discussed their study habits with them, we noticed that a few big trends emerged. Prepared.īut these students with perfect SAT scores didn’t just sit down and stare at that big blue College Board book for 50 hours. How do we know this? We’ve talked with students who have gotten those scores…and every. (If they say they did, take it with a big pinch of salt.) Chances are, if you know somebody with a perfect SAT score, they didn’t just breeze through the test without ever having seen the official exam before. To get a perfect SAT score of 1600, you’ll need good prep materials, persistence, an understanding of the format, and more. What Does It Take to Get a Perfect SAT Score? So if you thought it was impossible to get that perfect SAT score, think again! Here are some students who did just that…and are here to tell you how. But we’ve done our research, talked with some of our highest-scoring students, and found perfect scorers from around the country. That perfect SAT score of 1600 definitely takes some serious legwork, as well as some serious strategy. And why can’t you be one of the perfect SAT scorers? Because guess what? Someone has to score in the top 5%. Not scared off yet? Good! Let those numbers inspire you. When we spoke to the College Board, they confirmed: “A top score on the SAT is achieved by only a fraction of a percent of test takers.” How many scored a perfect 1600? Only around several hundred. In 2017, 1.7 million graduating students had taken the SAT.

Highest sat score