The Scoop on the SAT from Mother - Part I
How Quickly We Forget…
I read my sons “cut and dried” post to students on “Taking the SAT”. It became apparent to me “we” experienced “his” taking the SAT quite differently and as Forrest Gump said, That's all I have to say about that.” It might be that now that the SAT is behind him and he is off at college having a jolly old time, he has forgotten about the whole “ordeal” surrounding the taking of the SAT. I, on the other hand, am suffering from post traumatic stress syndrome and pre- post traumatic stress syndrome because his sister will start taking the SAT next year. Oh joy, I get to be the wicked witch of the mid west next year.
My son was among the thousands of seniors graduating in 2006 who took the New SAT®. In a fact sheet released to the press by CollegeBoard, the public was alerted to the following changes to the SAT.
Writing
A new writing section has been added to the test. Students are asked to write an essay that requires them to take a position on an issue and use reasoning and examples to support their position.
The essay is similar to the type of writing required on in-class college essay exams.
Multiple-choice questions measure a student's ability to identify sentence errors, improve sentences, and improve paragraphs.
Math
The new math section includes topics from third-year college-preparatory math, such as exponential growth, absolute value, functional notation, and negative and fractional exponents.
Quantitative comparisons have been eliminated.
Critical Reading
The critical reading section, previously known as the verbal section, includes short and long reading passages.
Analogies have been eliminated, but sentence-completion questions remain.
Total Testing Time: 3 hours and 45 minutes, including an unscored 25-minute variable section (which helps in the development of future test questions).
The new SAT, first administered in March 2005, was the first time the exam included a writing section. The maximum score changed from 1600 to 2400. The verbal analogy section was dropped, and the math portion was changed to more closely parallel what's being taught in high schools. The CollegeBoard might want to consider talking to a few parents to determine the actual parallel between what is being taught in some highschool classes and what is being tested by the SAT
The changes created a lot of anxiety and angst among students and parents. For some students from the class of 2006, the anxiety and angst was increased because a lot of the students, including my son, had already taken the “old” SAT, received quite respectable scores and perhaps planned to take the old SAT one more time to get their scores up a little and be done with the SAT by the summer of their junior year. The announcement of the “new” SAT created a lot of gnashing of teeth at my house. It also created a lot of confusion for students in the admission process because some college would take the “old” SAT scores and some would not. At that stage, most colleges were not even sure what they were going to do. Planning ahead and an attempt to make the college admissions process an orderly process for my son went to hell in a hand basket with the announcement of the “new” SAT. Orderly process, organization, a little respite from standardized testing be damned. The child had to take the “new” SAT.
I read my sons “cut and dried” post to students on “Taking the SAT”. It became apparent to me “we” experienced “his” taking the SAT quite differently and as Forrest Gump said, That's all I have to say about that.” It might be that now that the SAT is behind him and he is off at college having a jolly old time, he has forgotten about the whole “ordeal” surrounding the taking of the SAT. I, on the other hand, am suffering from post traumatic stress syndrome and pre- post traumatic stress syndrome because his sister will start taking the SAT next year. Oh joy, I get to be the wicked witch of the mid west next year.
My son was among the thousands of seniors graduating in 2006 who took the New SAT®. In a fact sheet released to the press by CollegeBoard, the public was alerted to the following changes to the SAT.
Writing
A new writing section has been added to the test. Students are asked to write an essay that requires them to take a position on an issue and use reasoning and examples to support their position.
The essay is similar to the type of writing required on in-class college essay exams.
Multiple-choice questions measure a student's ability to identify sentence errors, improve sentences, and improve paragraphs.
Math
The new math section includes topics from third-year college-preparatory math, such as exponential growth, absolute value, functional notation, and negative and fractional exponents.
Quantitative comparisons have been eliminated.
Critical Reading
The critical reading section, previously known as the verbal section, includes short and long reading passages.
Analogies have been eliminated, but sentence-completion questions remain.
Total Testing Time: 3 hours and 45 minutes, including an unscored 25-minute variable section (which helps in the development of future test questions).
The new SAT, first administered in March 2005, was the first time the exam included a writing section. The maximum score changed from 1600 to 2400. The verbal analogy section was dropped, and the math portion was changed to more closely parallel what's being taught in high schools. The CollegeBoard might want to consider talking to a few parents to determine the actual parallel between what is being taught in some highschool classes and what is being tested by the SAT
The changes created a lot of anxiety and angst among students and parents. For some students from the class of 2006, the anxiety and angst was increased because a lot of the students, including my son, had already taken the “old” SAT, received quite respectable scores and perhaps planned to take the old SAT one more time to get their scores up a little and be done with the SAT by the summer of their junior year. The announcement of the “new” SAT created a lot of gnashing of teeth at my house. It also created a lot of confusion for students in the admission process because some college would take the “old” SAT scores and some would not. At that stage, most colleges were not even sure what they were going to do. Planning ahead and an attempt to make the college admissions process an orderly process for my son went to hell in a hand basket with the announcement of the “new” SAT. Orderly process, organization, a little respite from standardized testing be damned. The child had to take the “new” SAT.
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