| . What is the new SAT?
The class of 2006 will be the
first to write a timed essay as part of the SAT, in addition to taking the traditional
verbal and math sections, which have also been revamped.
The SAT's chief rival in the field of college admission tests, the ACT, is also making an
essay an optional part of its exam. Both changes will commence with tests taken in the
spring of 2005. From that time a perfect SAT score will rise from 1600 to 2400, with the
writing test worth up to 800 points. The duration of the test will increase to three hours
and 35 minutes, including 25 mins for the unscored section. The new writing test takes up
50 minutes of this time - 25 minutes for the essay, and 25 minutes for related multiple
choice questions.
The oldest college admission exam in the U.S., the SAT is being revised for the first time
since 1994, aiming to be more closely aligned with today’s high school curriculum,
and addressing concerns among employers and university professors that the quality of
student writing has severely declined.
The new essay will be scored
on a scale of 1 to 6. To receive a perfect score students are expected to demonstrate
"outstanding critical thinking, using clearly appropriate examples, reasons, and
other supporting evidence."
Structure of the new
writing test
The new SAT writing test will be very similar to the current SAT II writing exam that many
students already take, especially those applying to more selective colleges. The one-hour
test will include:
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an essay (for which about 20 minutes will be
alloted) on an assigned, but general, topic |
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a multiple-choice grammar section in which students
specify the part of a given sentence that contains an error |
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a multiple-choice syntax section in which students
select the most well-constructed sentence or the best-organized paragraph from several
options. |
Two readers will score
each essay. A third reader will be used if the scores given by the other two differ by
more than two points.
Changes to the verbal
section
The new SAT verbal test will include a series of paragraph-long passages, each followed by
a single multiple-choice question. These will replace the existing analogy questions,
which test a student’s ability to identify relationships between words. (An example
of the new style of question: “attorney” is to “client” as
“physician” is to ______; answer: “patient.”) Analogies are being
eliminated on the basis that they are not a part of most high school curriculums. The test
will be renamed “critical reading” to reflect this new emphasis.
Changes to the math
section?
The new math test will contain questions requiring a knowledge of material at the Algebra
II level, including matrices, absolute values, rational equations and inequalities,
radical equations and geometric notations. Most students take Algebra II during their
third year of high school. The current SAT tests only concepts from Algebra I and
geometry. Quantitative comparison questions, 3hich compare two mathematical expressions
and determine which represents the larger quantity, will no longer appear on the new SAT.
Obtaining registration
forms?
Most high schools will have
the forms. You can also get them directly from ETS by writing to:
Scholastic Assessment Test
Educational Testing Service
P.O. Box 6200
Princeton, NJ 08541
Phone: (609) 771-7600 |
