The SAT is undergoing its biggestbrchange in 30 years. The College Board says it is trying to make the test morebrrelevant to high school curriculum. The Redesigned SAT is expected to debut inbrMarch of 2016 and will impact students who are in the class of 2017 or younger.
The content on the Redesigned SAT will be very similar to thatbrwhich is on the ACT. The major difference is in how the conceptsbrare tested and the steps students will have to take to solve problemsbrcorrectly. Students will have to reason their way through thisbrexam by tackling problems in a linear and sequential fashion; a student’sbrability to process information quickly will be key.
Some students may find the RedesignedbrSAT more friendly:
- Therebr will not be a penalty for wrong answers, so students won’t have to worrybr about losing points for guessing incorrectly.
- Therebr will be only 4 answer choices instead of 5.
- Studentsbr may be more familiar with some of the vocabulary tested, but they willbr need to know multiple definitions of those words.
Some students maybrfind some of the changes more challenging:
- Questionsbr will require multiple steps to get to an answer.
- Thebr reading passages will include complex structure and vocabulary.
- Foundationalbr math skills will be more important.
- Reasoningbr and critical thinking skills will be paramount
- Therebr will be fewer sections on the Redesigned Test, but they will be longer inbr time than the current SAT
Deborah Ellinger, CEO of The PrincetonbrReview, offers the following statement regarding the College Board's March 5brannouncement of its plans to redesign the SAT®:
"I'm glad that the College Boardbrhas acknowledged the importance of prepping for the SAT. We believe allbrstudents should have access to test prep resources and coaching, which is whybrwe work with schools and school districts across the country to ensure studentsbrreceive guidance and coaching not just on these tests, but on the additionalbrchallenges of finding the best fit college and securing financial aid.
No standardized test is perfect, and thebrSAT in particular tends to be biased against women and various ethnic groups. Ibram very sorry to see the College Board has made optional the only sectionbr(essay) where women had better average scores that help offset part of thebrgender gap in the reading and math sections. We have to deal with this, though,brbecause in spite of the SAT's notable shortcomings, the reality is that mostbrcolleges use standardized tests for admissions decisions, and in many casesbrscholarships and other forms of financial aid are tied to test performance.
This is not the first time, nor do webrexpect it will be the last, that the College Board has changed the test. Webrsupport any effort to align the test more directly with what students arebrlearning in school. A common refrain when these changes are announced is thatbrthey are being made because the old test was coachable, and that the new testbrwill be better tied to curriculum and less coachable. We've never seen a testbrthat wasn't coachable.
The Princeton Review's position about thebrSAT remains unchanged. We are not as concerned about the changes to the test asbrwe are about students doing well on this high stakes exam. We will continue tobrteach our unique combination of test taking, problem solving, and methodologybrthat helps maximize our students' scores.
Ultimately, to put the whole matterbrinto perspective, this is nothing more than a Coke versus Pepsi battle. In thisbrcase Pepsi (the ACT) has taken market leadership from Coke (the SAT), and Cokebrhas responded. When viewed through that lens, these changes make a lot ofbrbusiness sense. From The Princeton Review's point of view, the College Boardbrhas never designed a test that we couldn't help students crack."
About The Princeton Review
The Princeton Review is a leading test preparation and college admissionbrservices company. Every year it helps millions of students achieve theirbreducation and career goals through its test preparation, tutoring, andbradmissions services, its online resources, and its more than 150 print andbrdigital books published by Random House LLC. The Company also partners directlybrwith school districts and non-governmental organizations to provide studentsbrwith college readiness services including college selection, test preparation,brfinancial aid advice, and admissions support. For more information, visit www.princetonreview.com and www.facebook.com/ThePrincetonReview. Follow the Company's Twitter feed @ThePrincetonRev.
The SAT is a registered trademark ofbrthe College Board.