The College Board recently unveiled its plans for the upcoming SAT makeover. Among the biggest changes are a sharper focus on critical-thinking, an emphasis on real-world problems, a new scoring system, and an overhaul of the essay section.
We at Key Academics are glad the features of the SAT redesign are very well aligned with the ways we already educate our students. The College Board's increased focus on reasoning and foundational skills matches our own educational philosophy and pedagogy.
To help keep track of these changes and how they compare with the ACT and the current SAT, we have put together a comparison chart between these three tests. To view and download the chart, please visit our partners at Summit Educational Group: http://www.mytutor.com/sites/default/files/imce/SATACTChart.pdf.
Below is an overview of major changes to and considerations for the redesigned SAT:
Aptitude over Achievement
Following the College Board's information release, many critics have expressed assumptions that the test will be made less challenging than its current form. However, all evidence suggests that the redesigned SAT will be at least equal in difficulty. The redesigned SAT shows a greater emphasis on problem-solving and critical thinking.
Blurring the Lines between SAT and ACT?
Like the ACT, the new SAT will not penalize students for incorrect answers. The new SAT Writing & Language section will require students to review the grammar, punctuation, and structure of short passages (much like the ACT English section). The new Reading section will include science passages, accompanied by charts and graphs (much like the ACT Science section).
However, the SAT will remain a test of aptitude, whereas the ACT is more a test of achievement. Neither is more difficult or legitimate, but some students may be better-suited for one or the other.
The College Board will provide concordance information for comparing scores on the redesigned SAT to scores on the current SAT and ACT. However, this information will not be made available until the first administration of the redesigned SAT, in spring of 2016.
Less Vocabulary, More Reasoning
The new Reading section will remove the contentious vocabulary-based questions, replacing them with a new question type that requires students to cite evidence to justify previous answers.
The (Optional?) Essay
The essay will not be required, and it will be scored separately from the rest of the test. However, the essay on the ACT is also "optional," though most schools require applicants to complete it, regardless. We expect that the same will be true of the optional essay on the new SAT.
This new essay will be much more challenging, requiring students to read a passage and thoroughly analyze its argumentative rhetoric. Fortunately, students will now have twice as much time (50 minutes) to accomplish this task.
Narrower, Deeper Focus
The new Math section will focus on a narrower range of concepts, with particular emphasis on algebra skills. However, some of the sample problems provided by the College Board display an increase in the difficulty of questions and concepts. The former is best represented by a new question type: the "extended thinking" question. This is a complicated, multi-step problem that will appear once per test and is the only question worth 4 raw points. The increased difficulty of concepts is best represented by the new inclusion of trigonometry questions.
There will be more problems that provide real-world contexts, particularly in the fields of social studies and science. Below is an example that illustrates the difference between the type of questions seen in the new sample problems and a typical question seen on the current SAT:
Redesigned SAT
The figure above shows a metal hex nut with two regular hexagonal faces and a thickness of 1cm. The length of each side of a hexagonal face is 2cm. A hole with a diameter of 2cm is drilled through the nut. The density of the metal is 7.9 grams per cubic cm. What is the mass of this nut, to the nearest gram? (Density is mass divided by volume.)
Current SAT
In the figure above, ABCDEF is a regular hexagon, and its center is point O. What is the value of x?
(A) 80
(B) 60
(C) 40
(D) 30
(E) 20
More to Come
The College Board's 200-page document on the SAT redesign, available athttps://www.collegeboard.org/delivering-opportunity/sat/redesign, explains many additional changes and considerations for the new test. As always, stay tuned for more updates from Key Academics, as we will be analyzing all of the new information to determine what is most relevant and important.
