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The Student News Site of Walt Whitman High School

The Black and White

The Student News Site of Walt Whitman High School

The Black and White

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March 21, 2024

Revamped SAT to focus on classroom skills, eliminate required essay, challenging vocabulary

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For current high school freshmen, the SAT will no longer feature “archaic” vocabulary, a required essay and a penalty for missed questions, the College Board announced Wednesday in a major redesign of one of the nation’s top two college admission tests. The new test will launch in spring of 2016.

The change, only the second in the past decade, was brought to discussion when critics and even the College Board’s own president argued the old version of the test does not clearly focus on skills learned in the classroom.

“The new SAT seems to be more grounded in the 21st century than the current SAT,” local college counselor Bruce Vinik said. “It appears to test skills, concepts and knowledge that are more closely aligned with the things that students are learning in high school and that they will need to be successful in college.”

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One of the largest transitions is the switch back to a 1600-point scale with just two 800-point sections instead of three. Writing multiple-choice questions will combine with reading comprehension questions to form a new “Evidence Based Reading and Writing” section. This revamped section will also have an increased focus on including texts across many disciplines, including historical documents and scientific passages.

The optional essay will be significantly altered, focusing on analyzing a specific source, and will be scored separately from the rest of the test.

The College Board also plans to radically change the vocabulary section, eliminating the difficult words that characterized the old test and replacing them with “words that students will use consistently in college and beyond,” according to a statement by the College Board.

In hopes of enabling students to focus more on fewer topics, the math section will only test three subjects: algebra, data analysis and problem solving, and advanced math.

Because of concerns about testing inequality, Khan Academy will also team up with the College Board to produce free test-prep videos. But some, like Vinik, believe that test-prep coaches will continue to help students “get the best scores possible,” he said.

In recent years, the ACT has caught up with the SAT as the most popular test nationally for college applicants. In 2012, more students took the ACT than the SAT, and Wednesday’s changes to the SAT could have been spurred by increased competition with the rival ACT.

“It remains to be seen whether there will be a move back to the SAT once the new version is out,” Vinik said. “Ultimately, students are going to choose the test that will lead to the highest scores.”

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  • A

    A juniorMar 6, 2014 at 1:36 pm

    This is ridiculous! Current Juniors and sophtomores are outraged. That means in 2 years, we dont have to worry about the ridiculous amount of vocab we need to memorize! This is an outrage.

    Reply
  • M

    Manuel IrribarenMar 6, 2014 at 11:41 am

    FINALLY! I knew an 1800 was good

    Reply