Many experts and educators think that the SAT exams are no longer adequate for measuring the amount of knowledge learned by students. The new SAT is going to be released in 2016 to have these changes:
- No more point deduction for wrong answers
- An optional timed essay
- No more obscure vocabulary words
- The test will change from a 2400 point system back to a 1600 point system
The New SAT is going to collaborate with the Khan Academy, an educational website, to provide free videos and other online tutorials for any student with an internet connection. This is meant to level the playing field for students who cannot afford SAT classes in private tutoring centers.
Low-income students are going to receive fee waviers, which will give them free SAT score submissions to 4 different colleges.
The new SAT would also be made available on paper and online. As for the scoring system, the new SAT will revert back to the 1600 poing scale. The first 800 points is from the math portion of the exam. The remaining 800 points is from “evidence-based reading and writing”.
In terms of the test itself, the new SAT will be testing on material that is likely to show in college curriculums. Instead of obscure vocabulary, words such as “synthesis” and “empirical”, which are commonly seen in university science classes, will be tested.
The math section will focus on linear equations, functions, and proportional thinking. Calculators are prohibited in some parts of the test.
There will be an optional essay writing section. It is optional because some colleges will require this essay, while other won’t. For example, if a student wanted to apply to college A, which requires the essay section, he or she must write the optional essay. This essay portion is strongly recommended for students who wish to enroll in English, Journalism, and other courses that consider writing to be a core part of the class.
More universities are now looking more at a students’ GPA rather than SAT score. According to some universities, the SAT tests tend to be “filled with unproductive anxiety”.
Despite this, students still want to measure how much they have learned in comparison to other students. There were 1.7 million students who took the SAT and 1.8 million students who too the ACT last year.
Unlike the ACT, The SAT still lacks a science section. However, the new SAT test would develop scientific reading passages in their revised reading section.
The exam runs three hours. If you choose to write the optional essay, it is 50 minutes more, for a total of 3 hours and 50 minutes.
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Today’s guest post is from Jane Cui, a former SAT tutor and college consultant at the Princeton Review. She loves teaching math and AP Chemistry. She has a website that teaches students SAT vocabulary using picture flashcards.