The Great New Redesigned SAT
Despite the endless criticisms of the new Redesigned SAT from high school and college professionals, alike, the new SAT may have a major upside for many high school students.
The new test captures a broader range of skills in reading and math, allowing students to showcase different talents. For example, part of the math section must be completed without a calculator, rewarding students who remember their mental math from elementary and middle school.
Approximately 30% of college students major in business, history, or the social sciences (https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=37). The old SAT did a poor job of testing attitude for these subjects. The new test, however, features graphs and charts throughout the test. The adoption of data analysis as a major component of the SAT is one of the most encouraging changes the College Board has made in decades. Furthermore, the integration of historical texts into the SAT Reading Test will surely benefit students with a talent for history or social studies.
The old SAT essay encouraged students to memorize a few historical or literary examples (think Rosa Parks, MLK, Catcher in the Rye, “A Doll’s House, ” etc…) and apply these examples to a broad based question (Is truth good or bad? What is the role of leadership in society? Is technology good or bad for society?). The new SAT essay will actually require students to reason through different viewpoints. This new essay is aligned with the current GRE essay and will surely reward students with superior writing and analytical skills.
What’s the greatest disappointment in the new test? The elimination of sentence completion/vocabulary memorization is a sad element of the new test. For many students (myself included), standardized test prep was the best chance for us math and science students to increase our command of the English language. The new test does feature in context vocab, but we can all say goodbye to obscure SAT vocab words (sanguine, ornithology, and the like).
Once the new test was introduced and many were celebrating that the new test is less susceptible to test prep and tutoring, a very smart student told me, “Well, I guess it is impossible to design a test that people cannot prepare for.” Of course, this is true about the new test. Surely, students from wealthy backgrounds will spend thousands and even tens of thousands of dollars on test prep. This time around, though, high quality test prep will be available to all through the College Board’s partnership with the Khan Academy. Thus, the best upside of the new test may be for students from disadvantaged backgrounds.
The SAT has never been a test of high school curriculum, and the new test is not either. Instead, the SAT measures a student’s ability to reason, prepare, and perform-three essential skills for success in college coursework.
Sarah Weltman is the Founder and President of Tutoring Solutions Group, a boutique test prep firm based in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.