Class of 2017 will see major changes in SATs

Educators are saying the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) has undergone its biggest changes in 30 years. Lee Weiss, vice president of college admissions programs at Kaplan Test Prep told CNN, “I would say that these are the biggest changes ever to the SAT . . . People talked a lot about the SAT changes in 2005. Those were really small compared to what we’re seeing now.”

The College Board is launching the new SAT test this month. According to college.usatoday.com, here’s what’s changing:

1. Return to a top score of 1600 – In short, the 2400 scoring scale implemented in 2005 was a failure. The SAT is reversing this mistake.
2. No penalty for wrong answers – Students won’t need to spend any time figuring out if they’re sure enough about their answer to make it worthwhile to mark it down. In the new system, it will always be worth it to guess. One will have a 25 percent chance of getting it right and no penalty if it’s wrong.
3. Fewer choices – The number of multiple-choice answer options will decrease from five to four. Not only does this improve one’s chances of guessing correctly (25 instead of 20 percent), it means you won’t have to spend as much time reviewing each option.
4. More time for each section – One of the biggest complaints that students had after the 2005 revamp was that there simply wasn’t enough time to answer all of the questions. Now, there will be more time for each section, and there will be 16 fewer questions on the entire test.
5. No more obscure vocabulary – Instead of flashcard-style rote memorization, the redesigned SAT will ask about functional vocabulary used in context.
6. Increased use of graphs and charts – The test taker will need to be able to garner meaningful information from data presented in a variety of formats.
7. Use of texts that are more similar to those students have seen at school – The type of texts that students have been working with every day in typical courses will appear on the SAT.
8. Reading section focuses on evidence – In this section, the test will provide a prompt and then ask which piece of evidence from the text best supports that prompt.
9. Revamped essay section – For the 2016 redesign, the essay no longer will be integrated into one’s writing score. It’s now graded completely separately and, most importantly, is optional.
10. Lab rats no more – Previously, the SAT experimented on every test taker with a section that would not count toward the student’s score. However, one never knew which section was the experimental one. These are gone now.

What hasn’t changed?

1. The SAT is still English and math based – Although it will include prompts (including graphs and charts) that draw from other disciplines, students ultimately will be tested verbal and math skills. No science. No music. No languages. Just English and math.
2. The SAT is still difficult – While the redesigned SAT eliminates the penalty for guessing and has removed arcane language from the test, it’s still challenging. Moreover, it’s a marathon. During the test, students first will need to read about 4,500 words of text, including five lengthy passages, and analyze more than 100 somewhat lengthy questions.

After that, they will take two different math tests (one with a calculator and one without). Finally, most students will then stay for the 50-minute essay portion, where they’ll first have to read a passage of about 700 words and then analyze that passage before they can begin writing.

The general consensus seems to be that the best way to prepare for the redesigned SAT is to study for the ACT.