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As winter is winding down and spring is approaching, the big test that every high school student dreams of taking is on the way…if only that were true. That test--you guessed it-- the SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test) is no walk in the park. However, the SAT coming this spring has undergone an extreme makeover. Juniors graduating in 2006 will be the first class to face this new challenge.
The new SAT has several distinct modifications. Probably the most unpopular change in the test is the lengthening of the exam by a half-hour. The time of the test has been extended due to the addition of a thirty-minute student written essay.
After being given a quote to base your essay upon, you’ll be expected to take a position and support it with examples from your personal experiences and from your studies. Another aspect of the test, which may in fact be the best part of the new SAT, is in the writing section. They have replaced the analogies (somnolent is to wakeful as graceful is to clumsy) with short critical reading passages, which make up 30 percent of the writing section, and new multiple-choice grammar questions, which make up 70 percent.
In the math section, quantitative-comparison questions, which used to count for 25 percent of the math score, have also been dropped. Algebra II and geometry equations have been added. Concepts like function notation and exponential growth will be introduced, and there will be more emphasis on graphs and interpreting visual data. Now while algebra II and geometry math subjects are more difficult (remember negative exponents?), these questions only account for ten percent of the total math section. The perfect score for the new SAT will be 2400 rather than the 1600 it was with the old test. Another change in the new SAT is the price. The cost will run students between $36 and $38 rather than $24 for the old SAT. The next SAT will be given May 7, 2005.
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