> So, getting above 700 is not so tough; actually getting an 800 has to be partly a craps shoot.
Having just had a look at the Official SAT Practice Test
2010-11, I agree. There's no calculus or anything else at all difficult in the maths SAT so getting a perfect score is merely a matter of avoiding slipping up.
Actually I'm surprised Caltech or any other supposedly elite US university uses it as an entrance exam; it's simply far too easy a test to sort the wheat from the chaff.
Having just had a look at the Official SAT Practice Test 2010-11, I agree. There's no calculus or anything else at all difficult in the maths SAT so getting a perfect score is merely a matter of avoiding slipping up.
Actually I'm surprised Caltech or any other supposedly elite US university uses it as an entrance exam; it's simply far too easy a test to sort the wheat from the chaff.