The New SAT

"Facing the New SAT"
By Katherine Cohen, Ph.D.
IvyWise President and College Admissions Counselor

The SAT I is experiencing a facelift this year on March 12, 2005, but it isn't going to be without wrinkles. The impact of the new test will greatly affect this year's high school juniors who will test for 3 hours and 45 minutes, instead of just 3 hours, and take a third writing section. So, the new test will have three sections: Math, Critical Reading, and Writing, each scored out of 800 points, for a total of 2400 possible points.

The good news is that juniors will score higher than their parents! The bad news is, without historical comparison, what does a 2250 mean? The test will not only change in length and format, it will change in content. The Math section is changed insofar as the tedious quantitative comparisons are being eliminated, but there will be harder math problems, including topics from third-year college preparatory math or algebra 2; 70 minutes of 5-choice multiple choice questions, and student produced responses. Luckily, calculators will be permitted. What used to be called the verbal section, will now be called critical reading because the dreaded analogies are eliminated (one piece of good news). The bad news is that the added short reading passages require more minutes of concentrated reading (70 total). Finally, the new writing section (60 minutes long) will include multiple choice questions to test grammar and usage in addition to a student-written essay. For the essay, students will be asked to respond to an open-ended statement or concept like "the pillars of success are built upon the steps of failure." By the way, a college receiving the new SAT I test scores, WILL be able to view and print the essay, which seems very invasive.

Some tips:

First, this year's high school juniors, or the graduating high school class of 2006 should ONLY take the new SAT I. Some juniors are trying to avoid the new test by taking the old test this fall or winter (the old test is still being offered through the January 22, 2005 test date). This is a mistake, as most selective colleges are ONLY accepting the new test for the high school class of 2006 and younger students. Besides, if students only take the old test, they will also have to take the Writing SAT II. Better to take the new test and skip the Writing SAT II, which will become obsolete after January 22, 2005.

Second, prepare, prepare, prepare! The Princeton Review published a new book called 11 Practice Tests for The New SAT and PSAT and The College Board has their own book The Official SAT Study Guide For The New SAT. Studies show that the more times students take the test, the better they do. I advise taking at least 8 practice tests, the 8 Saturday mornings preceding the real test, for students to psychologically prepare for waking up early Saturday mornings and concentrating for 4 straight hours.

Third, put the test into perspective. While it is certainly a factor for college admissions, it counts about half as much as the rigorousness of a student's high school curriculum and grades. So, for students who are lackluster test-takers, they should prove themselves academically by taking a challenging course load and working on grades. Colleges are much more interested to know how students perform in the classroom over 4 years, than how they did for 4 hours on a Saturday morning.

The SAT will change beginning in March 2005. The changes include:

• The SAT I verbal section will be renamed "Critical Reading" and will have short and long reading passages. The analogy section of the current SAT I will be dropped.
• The SAT I math section will cover material from Algebra II and will eliminate the quantitative comparison section.
• A new writing section will be added and scored on the 200 - 800 scale. The section will include a student-written essay and multiple choice grammar questions.

If you call an admissions office to find out if you have been accepted before decisions are released, you will not get an answer but will probably irritate the admissions office in the process.

Asking great questions during an interview will impress an admissions officer, but questions that are answered in the viewbook or on the web site only demonstrate a lack of preparedness.

The College Board changed the rules for reporting SAT II scores, effective June 2002. By ending "Score Choice", all scores are automatically forwarded to schools.

Did you know that effective Fall 2003, the College Board and ACT will no longer flag-with the notation "nonstandard administration"-the scores of students who have taken exams (including PSATs and AP exams) under special conditions to accommodate physical or mental disabilities.