Standardized Test Prep : The New SAT
Overview: When was the test changed? Why was it changed? How
was it changed?
In 2001 the College Board announced that they were going to begin redesigning the
SAT. The new SAT (now called the SAT Reasoning Test) was first administered in March
2005. This test now has three parts (Critical Reasoning, Math, and Writing) each
scored on a scale of 200-800 points for a total possible SAT score of 2400. The exam
takes students three hours and forty-five minutes to complete, forty-five minutes
longer than the previous test. The College Board says that they changed the test
to align more closely with actual high school curricula. For this reason, the verbal,
or critical reading, section no longer includes analogies and has incorporated short
reading passages. The math section has been expanded to include Algebra II (the old
test only assumed students were familiar with Algebra I) and third-year college-preparatory
math (exponential growth, absolute value, functional notation, and negative and fractional
exponents). The test now also includes a writing section, a source of much anxiety
for students. In addition to multiple-choice questions on writing, this section requires
an essay that asks students to take a position on an issue and use reasoning and
examples to support that position. According to the College Board, the essay is similar
to the type of writing required on in-class college essay exams.
- The essay measures a student’s ability to:
- Organize and express ideas clearly
- Develop and support the main idea
- Use appropriate word choice and sentence structure
- Students are asked to develop a point of a view on an issue, using reasoning and evidence — based on their own experiences, readings, or observations — to support their ideas.
- Essay prompts are usually either a pair of quotes or a short excerpt from a real text along with an "assignment" that directs the topic more specifically.
- The essay will be scored by two trained readers. Each reader will give the essay a score from 1 to 6 (6 is the highest score) based on the overall quality of the essay and the demonstration of writing competence. If the readers’ scores differ by more than one point, the essay will go to a third reader. The scores are then added together and factored into the total 200-800 point score on the writing section.
- Colleges will receive a copy of the essay along with the official score report!
How is the test ordered?
Students always begin the test with the 25-minute essay.
In order to minimize the possibility of cheating, the six 25-minute sections and
the two 20-minute sections can appear in any order. The test concludes with the
10-minute multiple-choice writing section.
Comparing the old and new tests:
| Critical Reading Section (Previously called the Verbal Section) | ||
| The Old SAT | The New SAT | |
| Time | 75 Minutes Total:
|
70 Minutes Total:
|
| Content | Types of Questions:
|
Types of Questions:
|
Measuring:
|
Measuring:
|
|
| Score | V 200 – 800 | CR 200 – 800 |
| Math Section | ||
| The Old SAT | The New SAT | |
| Time | 75 Minutes Total:
|
70 Minutes Total:
|
| Content | Types of Questions:
|
Types of Questions:
|
Measuring:
|
Measuring:
|
|
| Score | M 200 – 800 | M 200 – 800 |
| Writing Section (New!) | ||
| The Old SAT | The New SAT | |
| Time | No writing section. | 60 Minutes Total:
|
| Content | No writing section. | Types of Questions:
|
| Score | W 200 – 800 Multiple-Choice Subscore: 20-80 Essay Subscore: 2-12 |
|
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