...or did we...?Put to a new test
High school students face revamped SATBy Sherry Parmet
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
March 12, 2005
The SAT, a staple in college admission decisions, debuts today in a remodeled format that better reflects what schools teach and students learn in class.
In its broadest revision in half a century, the test no longer contains those irksome analogies – fallacy is to idea as misnomer is to name – that sent test takers head scratching. Instead, there will be a timed essay question, more-advanced math, and a longer test overall.
The College Board, which administers the SAT, trumpets the new test as a better reflection of the curricula used in schools, so stellar scores should not correlate as much with tutoring from pricey test-preparation providers. Tutoring companies, however, say the test is more coachable than ever, and the changes have brought a flurry of students to their doors.
Matthew Poling, a junior at Steele Canyon High School in Spring Valley, boasts an impressive résumé – straight A's, Advanced Placement classes and a coveted spot on his school's varsity tennis team.
He sought tutoring from The Princeton Review because the new essay section rattled him, and he believes standardized tests play an ever-larger role in increasingly competitive college admission decisions.
"Back when my parents were in school, I guess they were pretty casual about it," he said. "You'd take your test, get your score and go to college. Now everyone wants to go to college. And with the new test, I was like, 'I need help.' "
The SAT was revised by the New York-based College Board after Richard Atkinson, then-president of the University of California, said in 2001 that the exam was a poor predictor of college success because it failed to measure what today's students learn. He threatened to stop using it in entrance decisions if it wasn't modified.
The SAT, first offered in 1926, has gone through various revisions. In 1994, the reading passages were lengthened, questions on antonyms were dropped and students were allowed to use calculators.
Besides the essay, the most recent modifications will include multiple-choice grammar questions asking test takers to identify errors and ways to improve sentences and paragraphs.
The math section will extend to algebra II and cover concepts such as exponential growth, functional notation, absolute value and negative and fractional exponents. Some of the more confusing mathematical brainteasers – quantitative comparisons, for example – will be thrown out.
The test will be three hours and 45 minutes (:shock, up from three hours, and there will be more points – 2,400 instead of 1,600 ( :shock. The registration cost will increase from $28.50 to $41.50 ( :shock, though there are waivers for students in low-income families.
Brian ****, director of SAT information services for the College Board, said that historically students have sought private coaching because they were unfamiliar with much of the material in the exam. "The hope is that by making the test look like all the other tests you take in high school (mmmmm.....), we'll reduce the pressure on students to seek outside coaching," he said. "However, there's an industry out there and they've done a lot of advertising and created a need for themselves. So they will probably continue to do well."
Andy Lutz, vice president of program development for The Princeton Review, criticized the new SAT and questioned whether it is more aligned to high school curricula than the old version. Rather than measuring what students learn in school, he said, the questions still seek to trick students. (mmmmhmm!)
The upside for test-preparation companies is that the exam, and particularly the essay, is more coachable than ever, Lutz said, so much so that his corporation is doubling its improvement guarantee, promising students a 200-point increase or free classes for up to an additional year.
"This is the largest growth we've seen in this business since the last time the SAT changed in 1994," Lutz said.
Jennifer Karan, national director of SAT programs for Kaplan, which conducts test-preparation programs, said it's easy to help students hone their writing skills by pointing out the types of grammar pitfalls that will get them into trouble on the essay, such as lack of subject and verb agreement and incorrect use of prepositions. Students can also be coached on how to write with clarity, back up their arguments and stick to the topic in the allotted time.
"For students who are not exposed to these skills in the regular academic curriculum, preparation becomes key," she said.
Jill Duoto, director of Brilliant Learning Center in Carmel Valley, said it was much harder to help students cram for the analogy section on the old test, which meant memorizing scores of new vocabulary words.
"You can't really expand their vocabulary much in two to three months," she said. (tru, tru...)
( the rest of the article can be found here... http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/education/20050312-9999-7m12sat.html )
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so what does it look like......seems like a test u would've wanted to partake in...or no?
shoot, all i had to see was "extended math section" to know that THANK GOD I GRADUATED FROM H.S. IN '02!!! WHOO-HOO!!!!!
& i love writing, don't get me wrong, but i hated them writing tests we had 2 take back in, what, the 8th grade? 10th grade? i HATED them jointz....so that's another aspect of it i wouldn't be lookin' 4ward to...
& 2400 pointz?! wth?! so i guess my 1050 would just REALLY look like some garbage to the upcoming generations who don't know about the "1600" best score :?
I never liked the prep materials for the SAT, maybe because my AP Literature teacher made the test seem like a life or death decision. I chose to take the ACT and I ended up taking it 3 times. I'm just happy none of the 5 colleges I applied to (and got accepted to) required me to take the SAT. IT'S ACT ALL THE WAY FA ME!!!!! :wink:
^^^...I hear what you're saying. I guess I'm talking from my own expereince at my high school. As a result of No Child Left Behind, you had a majority of the Black Students grouped in lower level classes. They didn't get to algebra II until like senior year. If you have a lot of Black Students grouped in those types of classes, and now you're saying they can't take a class to prepare them for the SAT, how will they succeed?
not to be blunt but...Whose fault was that? Exactly why were black students place in lower lever math courses?
it sounds like you're placing complete blame on those black (and brown) students and that's unfair. i don't know how how many of y'all know about cali's public school system but it's Sh*t. point blank. if you have incompetent teachers and a school with no resources, it gets hard to do Sh*t on your own. and i'm not saying that those students shouldn't try to do what they can, but you also have to look at the administrators, the educators, etc and ask them why they aren't doing their job. and this goes way beyond the SAT. kids are written off before they even make it to high school, or at least out here they are.
ok, now that i've beaten up my state, i'll get back to the topic. i took the SAT yesterday. it was horrendously long. it wasn't anything unexpected because i was able to take a prep class because of this college prep program i'm a part of (which is getting cut so less and less students will be able to benefit from it.) i took that instead of the ACT because the program paid for it. i would only want to change the time it takes.
Nah, I'm not blaming black people completely. It's just that, where I am, test prep materials and courses are in abundance and alot of them are FREE or very cheap and alot of people don't take advantage of them. It doesn't make since why the school with some of the highest graduation test scores in DeKalb county has an average of 870 on the SAT. I'm sorry if I offended anybody. It's just that I've not been exposed to other peoples' situations and I was just going off of what I observe daily. But thanks for educating me. I stand corrected.
My friend Gifty took it over the weekend, and she said the math section was harder, and that it was sooo long she was bout to fall asleep! I already hate wakin' up early to go to skool, so I kno that I ain't gone wanna get up to take no 5 hour test!!! Luckily I'm done wit my standardized testing (fa right now).
I'm sorry, but ain't no way you could make me take that version..EVER! Hell on the old version I never made above a 500 on the verbal part (damn 490). A 750 on the math part was what saved me.
I have to agree with u.I will never take another SAT test,lol.My ACT saved me, I made aa much better score. 8)
My friend Gifty took it over the weekend, and she said the math section was harder, and that it was sooo long she was bout to fall asleep! I already hate wakin' up early to go to skool, so I kno that I ain't gone wanna get up to take no 5 hour test!!! Luckily I'm done wit my standardized testing (fa right now).
, up from three hours, and there will be more points – 2,400 instead of 1,600 (
:shock
