The new SAT, implemented by the College Board, is coming March 5, 2016 is going to challenge high school students everywhere.
The SAT is changing in some ways, but most things are staying the same. According to www.sat.collegeboard.org, “It’s still accepted by almost all U.S. colleges, it’s typically taken by juniors in the spring and seniors in the fall, and there are still three parts: reading, writing and language, and math.”
“The whole test and feel of the SAT has changed from the most recent revision of the SAT in 2006 to the new one in 2015. The differences range from a different scoring range, different timing of the sections, topics on the English portion of the test, and the optional essay,” said Mr. Quick, an English teacher and SAT prep teacher at Colonia High School.
In the new SAT test, students should know that the scoring is different as well. It will be a total score of 2400 for the Writing, Reading, and Math sections to a score of 1600 on the English and Math sections. The optional essay will be scored within a range of 6 – 24.
Following the new SAT changes there is also a new optional essay. When Mr. Quick was asked about his opinion, he said, “I think that the transition to the new essay, which is a Rhetorical Analysis Essay, is going to take some time. It is more in-depth than the previous Expository Essay. Students will now have 50 minutes to complete the essay assignment compared to the 25 minutes on the previous SAT.” Mr Quick was also asked if he recommended his students to write the essay, and this was his response, “I think that the transition to the new essay, which is a Rhetorical Analysis Essay, is going to take some time. It is more in-depth than the previous Expository Essay. Students will now have 50 minutes to complete the essay assignment compared to the 25 minutes on the previous SAT.”
According to the college board, the SAT is expected to take 3 hours and 50 minutes with the essay, and 3 hours without it. The current SAT, which began in 2005, takes 3 hours and 45 minutes to finish. Also as of 2014 the SAT costs $52.50 and up to $94.50 outside of the United States.
Most people believe that passing the SAT’s is most essential to “college career success,” when asked Mr. Quick said, “Although the SAT is widely considered as a predictor of future college career success, I believe that it is just one of many predictors of future success. Some students are not great test takers, which I believe is not indicative of how intelligent a student may be in a classroom setting. I believe that student involvement in extra-curricular activities, organized sports, jobs, and community service are also important to develop a well-rounded individual.”
With the SAT’s rapidly approaching, students need to study, and get a feel to what’s going to be on the SAT’s. Mr. Quick suggested, “…students can log onto Collegeboard.org for more information for the new SAT. One of the best sources that students can use is Kahn Academy, which is a free service to help students prepare for the new SAT. Parents and students can learn more through the website https://www.khanacademy.org.”
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