The "New SAT" for
Parents Who Took The Old SAT
Good news for
those who have hoped that the SAT would change. The New SAT has arrived. The
bad news is that for most test-takers the New SAT is distinctly harder than the
dreaded old SAT. In sum, the test has a revised Verbal section which will be
renamed Critical Reading, a Math section which will contain more challenging
subject matter and an entirely new section - Writing.
Why the
change? Most college freshmen write poorly. College professors have vigorously
complained that students are ill-prepared for college-level writing. In an
effort to address this need for improvement, the New SAT requires an essay. The
section will provide "a writing prompt" such as "Problems are
opportunities in disguise". The test-taker will have 25 minutes to compose
a coherent essay on the subject using examples from history, literature,
current events or personal experience. Even strong writers do not find writing
under such time pressure fun.
The Writing
section will be divided into an essay portion and a multiple choice grammar
test. The grammar section might be the most difficult for those who sulk in
English class. It will require students to correct grammatical errors through
spotting mistakes and selecting the correct revisions of grammatically
incorrect sentences. Material designed to brush up on misplaced modifiers and
comma splices will soon be as common as the currently ubiquitous vocabulary
flash cards.
The revised
Verbal section will be renamed Critical Reading. This section will be more
heavily focused on reading comprehension and less focused on vocabulary
analysis. Analogies have been removed but sentence completions will remain. The
revised Math section has done away with Quantitative Comparisons which had been
the old test's most puzzling area. This will be a relief for some test-takers
who never quite understood that one of the answers was "not enough
information". But, the New SAT will go beyond basic algebra and geometry
to include Algebra II.
Scoring for
the new test will also change to include another 800 points allocated for the
Writing section. The perfect score will now be 2400 (800 Math, 800 Verbal, 800
Writing). No longer will a "1300" - the old hallmark of excellence -
be cause for celebration. It will be less than mediocre.
What can
students do to improve? Most of the standard methods for SAT improvement
remain. Taking challenging courses, reading good literature, and practicing
math will remain part of the standard self-study curriculum. SAT prep courses
and tutoring will continue to work for many students.
Learning to
write well will take a longer time than building a strong vocabulary. Flash
cards will not work for developing excellence in writing. Keeping a journal,
working assiduously on scholastic writing, and meeting with a writing coach are
some of the ways that students can improve. Relearning the rules of grammar
will also be vital.
And, one more thing, try teaching your children to sit for an extra hour as the test is longer than ever!