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The SAT test you took in high school remains one of the primary means by which institutions of

One of our Yale educated instructors teaching a small SAT class.

higher learning assess a student’s readiness for college.  However, that same SAT test is being dramatically redesigned. For one, it will now have a maximum score of 1600.  What’s that you say? The SAT test maximum score was always 1600.   Well almost.  Ten years ago, a written essay was added to the SAT and the maximum score was increased to 2400.  Other than reinstating the “old” 1600 score, the new SAT may be hard to recognize.

Future articles will describe 1) how the revised SAT is being brought into alignment with the Common Core standards being used throughout Connecticut’s schools and 2) how the new SAT test may replace the mandatory SBAC test currently administered to our 11th graders.  This article will focus on the structural changes to the test.

The new SAT actually more closely resembles the ACT test ( i.e. SAT’s chief competitor) than it does the current SAT.  However, the new SAT allots more time per question than the ACT, so students who do not work as quickly may benefit from the new test.  The new SAT test also contains only 4 answer choices on multiple choice questions instead of the current 5 and the new SAT imposes no penalty for guessing incorrectly.

The new test will also have a completely different look and feel from the existing test.  Below are some of the key changes.

• The new test will have 5 sections (down from 10 on the current test), with the fifth section being an optional essay.  There will be an emphasis on finding evidence to support answers and, in fact, there is a new question type where students will need to select the line numbers that support their answer.

• The second section is a 35 minute writing section.  Similar to the current ACT, questions are distributed within a passage.  There are 4 passages, each containing 11 questions.  There are some notable differences on the types of errors the new SAT will be watching for.  Both punctuation and diction (e.g. their/they’re/there) seem to be more prominently emphasized.

• Next, math topics are broken into two different sections, a 25 minute/20 question calculator-free section and a 55 minute/38 question sections where calculators are permitted.  Compared with the old test, there are more questions dealing with algebra and functions, and much less on geometry.  In addition, trigonometry and imaginary numbers are math topics newly introduced by the new SAT.

• Finally, the fifth section of the new SAT is a 50 minute optional essay.  The essay requires the student to read and analyze a text, as opposed to the current 25 minute essay that is a response to a quote or a question.

One of our tutors offering individualized tutoring for the ACT.

For the upcoming 2015-2016 school year, high school seniors will continue to take the current, “old” SAT while high school juniors will begin prepping for the new test by taking the new PSAT (Preliminary SAT) during the Fall of 2015 and the full new SAT in the Spring of 2016.  Details on the new SAT are being released on almost a daily basis.  For more information, contact James Maroney ( jmaroney@firstchoicecollege.com ) or 203-878-7998.