What is the New SAT Like?

There are big changes coming for students who are taking the SAT test starting in March, 2005 as part of the process of getting into a college or university. For the first time since the SAT's were introduced in 1926, analogies, or "houses are to wood as bunkers are to...," will not be on the test. On the math side, quantitative comparisons are being dropped in favor of more advanced algebra questions. The revamp will be completed by adding a series of multiple choice questions related to grammar and paragraph structure and a twenty-five minute essay. A perfect score will now be 2,400, or 800 on the math, 800 on the writing and 800 on the critical reading sections. The new test will last for a total of three hours and forty-five minutes versus the old three hour test. What should parents be aware of about the test overall and about the verbal side of the new test?

What has stayed the same? Students will still have one quarter of a point deducted for each incorrect answer. Therefore, students need to strategize about how to effectively skip answers that they will probably get wrong. There will still be an "experimental section" that will test the validity of questions for future tests. Students will not know ahead of time whether the extra section is in math, critical reading, or writing. As before, the experimental score will not be calculated into the total score, but will be used for statistical analysis. There will continue to be a sentence completion section that tests vocabulary and logic.