Seventy parents and students attended a seminar on the new Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) hosted by Whitefield’s college counseling department. The seminar was led by Jed Applerouth, a nationally certified counselor with a PhD in educational psychology. Applerouth is also the owner of Applerouth Tutoring Services, which employs over 200 tutors in its Atlanta, Chicago, Seattle, New York, and Washington D.C. offices.
The College Board first introduced the SAT in 1926 as the Scholastic Aptitude Test, and it was considered a measurement of aptitude rather than a test which accessed acquired critical thinking skills. Its name and scoring have changed several times and the SAT now stands for Scholastic Assessment Test, The upcoming changes to the test are largely driven by the increased usage of the competing ACT and the desire by universities to gain a more accurate picture of a student’s college readiness.
Students will begin taking the new test in March 2016. The test will emphasize critical thinking, requiring students to draw conclusions from multiple pieces of information within the context of the question itself. The test will return to a 1600 score, with subscores within the reading/writing and quantitative tests that measure different skills. The subscores will be meaningful for colleges and programs looking for students with particular skill sets. Some colleges will be more attentive to these subscores than others.
The essay portion of the test will be optional and a document-based question. Regardless of this change, individual colleges may continue to require the essay portion so students should be familiar with the requirements of individual institutions.
In addition, the new SAT nixes the guessing penalty and the fifth answer choice. This change should ease some testing anxieties previously experienced while taking the test.
Following the implementation of the test, colleges will begin collecting data on its results to help determine how well it is accessing the information a college needs and if necessary, begin making adjustments in admission requirements . Early data on the test is expected by the summer of 2018.
Not all colleges will immediately require scores from the new SAT and students who have already taken a previous SAT and are satisfied with their score should contact institutions to find out if a new test is required. Some universities such as Yale and University of Rochester have already weighed in on the new SAT, stating that they prefer the revised SAT to the current SAT, because “it more accurately measures the kind of skills we are looking for.”
“We believe it will be a better predictor of college readiness than the current SAT or ACT, but we’ll need to wait several years for the data to prove that hypothesis,” said Applerouth.
Applerouth mapped out a list of changes to the content of the test, and gave some sample questions from each section for attendees to see.
Listed below are a few elements of the new SAT. A more comprehensive look at the changes can be found at Applerouth.com or the College Board website. Applerouth recommended students review the changes thoroughly and take plenty of practice tests.
Here are just a just a few of the upcoming changes:
The College Board first introduced the SAT in 1926 as the Scholastic Aptitude Test, and it was considered a measurement of aptitude rather than a test which accessed acquired critical thinking skills. Its name and scoring have changed several times and the SAT now stands for Scholastic Assessment Test, The upcoming changes to the test are largely driven by the increased usage of the competing ACT and the desire by universities to gain a more accurate picture of a student’s college readiness.
Students will begin taking the new test in March 2016. The test will emphasize critical thinking, requiring students to draw conclusions from multiple pieces of information within the context of the question itself. The test will return to a 1600 score, with subscores within the reading/writing and quantitative tests that measure different skills. The subscores will be meaningful for colleges and programs looking for students with particular skill sets. Some colleges will be more attentive to these subscores than others.
The essay portion of the test will be optional and a document-based question. Regardless of this change, individual colleges may continue to require the essay portion so students should be familiar with the requirements of individual institutions.
In addition, the new SAT nixes the guessing penalty and the fifth answer choice. This change should ease some testing anxieties previously experienced while taking the test.
Following the implementation of the test, colleges will begin collecting data on its results to help determine how well it is accessing the information a college needs and if necessary, begin making adjustments in admission requirements . Early data on the test is expected by the summer of 2018.
Not all colleges will immediately require scores from the new SAT and students who have already taken a previous SAT and are satisfied with their score should contact institutions to find out if a new test is required. Some universities such as Yale and University of Rochester have already weighed in on the new SAT, stating that they prefer the revised SAT to the current SAT, because “it more accurately measures the kind of skills we are looking for.”
“We believe it will be a better predictor of college readiness than the current SAT or ACT, but we’ll need to wait several years for the data to prove that hypothesis,” said Applerouth.
Applerouth mapped out a list of changes to the content of the test, and gave some sample questions from each section for attendees to see.
Listed below are a few elements of the new SAT. A more comprehensive look at the changes can be found at Applerouth.com or the College Board website. Applerouth recommended students review the changes thoroughly and take plenty of practice tests.
Here are just a just a few of the upcoming changes:
The new SAT will be three hours long.
SAT takers will need to find correlations, plot points, and manipulate data as on the ACT.
The new SAT incorporates science items throughout both the verbal and the math sections and asks students to understand complex passages and jargon
The new SAT reduces its emphasis on vocabulary, but does not eliminate it entirely, so students will still need to drill vocabulary.
The optional essay is 50 minutes long, is at the end of the test, and is more analytical and challenging
The SAT Reading section consists of long passages from the domains of science, literature, and humanities/social studies.
Rhetorical skills are more important than grammatical skills, but grammar has not been eliminated.
The Writing section places a greater focus on reading comprehension.
The new SAT asks students to identify the “best evidence” for their answer. Students will need to search the passage to find the right answer choice.
Common words with multiple meanings have replaced the most challenging words from sentence completions. Students must use context to discern the intended meaning.
Students need to be prepared for the spikes in difficulty during the test. Student need to be coached not to abandon hope when they hit a really hard passage.
Some students have complained about the challenge of staying focused on a reading task for over an hour without a break: mental endurance now trumps speed.
There is a significant increase of word problems in the math section. Therefore, reading comprehension becomes paramount on the new SAT math
Algebra is king of the redesigned SAT math section and geometry, while not absent, takes a back seat.
There is some Algebra 2 content and some trigonometry
A full 2/3 of math items simultaneously assess two discrete skills
There is more quadratic formula and polynomial factoring
There is an increased focus on understanding how to build and manipulate functions and equations.
The math section is more focused on applied math, gauging fluency and understanding, rather than systematic solving.
There is no immediate roadmap to an answer, students must be more discriminating and find a path to an answer.
There is more overlapping content with fewer items assessing a solitary concept.