Big Changes to the SAT: Less Challenging, or Just a Different Challenge?

Optional essay, no penalties for wrong answers, and more targeted math concepts. This is the new SAT.

College Board officials announced big changes to the SAT college entrance exam this past Wednesday. The new test, which will be administered in 2016, is said to be a better representation of what students learn in high school and the tools they need to succeed in college and afterward. College Board President David Coleman says that these revisions will ensure that the test offers students evidence-based challenges and not test-taking tricks.

Students will continue to be tested on reading, writing, and math skills, but more emphasis will be placed on analysis.

Instead of measuring the coherence of the work, the essay section of the test will measure students’ ability to analyze and explain how an author builds an argument. This section is optional, and it will count as a separate score from the 1,600-point scale of the reading and math sections. If a student decides not to partake in the writing portion, the test will be approximately three hours long instead of four. Students will also have the option of taking the test on a computer.

The math section will be divided into three components: linear equations; complex equations or functions; and ratios, percentages and proportional reasoning. Calculators will be allowed on only part of the math section.

Vocabulary definitions on the new exam will replace the obscure SAT words, such as “depreciatory” and “membranous,” with words that are used more commonly in class and work settings, such as “synthesis” and “empirical.”

Some questions on the reading and writing sections will ask students to support the answer they have chosen by selecting a quotation from the text.

The exam will contain an excerpt either from one of America’s “founding documents,” such as the Declaration of Independence or the Bill of Rights, or from one of the critical examinations of these texts.

One of the biggest modifications to the test is the elimination of the guessing penalty for wrong answers. This choice will encourage students to guess smartly and confidently, which means their chances of getting answers correct will increase and we should expect to see higher scores.

However, now that there will be no guessing penalty, students might end up focusing their energy on every question, rather than using the strategy of working on the most approachable questions first and leaving the hardest ones for last (and skipping ones they can’t get to). Previously, this latter strategy allowed students to know which questions to address first, and they did not feel the need to spread their focus across every single question. It will be interesting to see if this change in the guessing penalty will dilute students’ energy during the test-taking process, now that they are trying to answer every question.

The College Board believes that these changes will improve students’ scores and be a better reflection of their abilities. However, changing the test will only mean students will have to change their test-taking strategies. The test will still be scored on a bell curve. The test will never be easy and students will always need to learn what it takes to perform their best on such an important and stressful exam. It will be interesting to see the after-effects of these changes and what will need to be done to prepare students for the new challenges they will face.

Sources: The New York Times & The Boston Globe