Big Changes Ahead for the SAT!

In August 2013, Club Z! posted about some anticipated changes to the SAT beginning in 2015, such as the fact that the college entrance exam would be offered online and obscure vocabulary words would be a thing of the past. But an announcement this week from The College Board, makers of the SAT, outlined some more major changes to the test expected to take place in 2016.   The newly revised SAT will aim to more accurately measure and reflect what students learn in the classroom.  David Coleman, the President of the College Board and lead contributor to the Common Core Standards initiative, had this to say in a recent speech, “It is time for an admissions assessment that makes it clear that the road to success is not last-minute tricks or cramming, but the learning students do over years,” He went on to say that the SAT “will no longer stand apart from .?.?. daily studies and learning.”   According to the College Board, the SAT redesign is also intended to help balance the scales for less affluent students who have been at a reported disadvantage compared with more affluent students who can afford the various fees associated with the college application process. In fact, the makers of the SAT again stated that they would waive up to 4 college application fees for students meeting certain income requirements.   There is also speculation that these changes come as an answer to the fact that the ACT college entrance exam surpassed the SAT in popularity last year, as measured by total number of test takers, for the first time in the test’s history. Many of the changes proposed by the College Board mimic the structure of the ACT (for example – no penalty for wrong answers, which were previously marked off one quarter point on the SAT).   Here is a rundown on some of the more significant changes:  

• The maximum score will decrease from 2400 to 1600 total points, a return to the previous scoring metrics in place prior to 2005.
• There is no longer a penalty for wrong answers (only correct answers will be counted toward the student’s score). This will significantly impact guessing strategies long believed to be useful for SAT test takers!
• In an effort to make the test more relevant and applicable for college preparation, the vocabulary section will be changed to eliminate obscure words in favor of words more commonly encountered in college courses.
• The math topics will focus primarily on linear equations, functions, and proportional thinking, and calculators may not be allowed for certain math questions (which questions or topics remains to be revealed).
• The test will require students to show more of their work in the math section, and substantiate their answers in the reading section through text analysis.
• The essay portion will be available but no longer mandatory.

  At Club Z! we believe that it’s good to shake things up from time to time, and we will embrace the changes to the SAT. We will of course continue to stay on top of these changes as they begin to unfold, and our test prep services will continue to support the test in every way to ensure that our students are well prepared.