This week the College Board announced that it was doing away with the optional essay portion of the SAT test and scrapping the SAT subject tests. I doubt many students will be disappointed. The essay, a rhetorical analysis of an argument, added fifty minutes to the end of what was already a marathon test and $15 to the testing fee. Now students can treat themselves to a nice post-test lunch instead.

SAT subject tests were required by some elite schools, and they were hard. The Literature test included 16th-century poetry, and the Math 2 test had things you don’t even want to know about. They will not be missed. Colleges can still use the AP, IB, and CLEP exams, which basically serve the same purpose of testing students in particular subject areas.

One criticism of the SAT essay was that it was redundant: practically every college requires students to submit application essays on topics of the college’s choosing. Why force students to analyze Jimmy Carter’s use of anaphora on top of that?

The ACT has not yet announced plans to cut its essay (a much friendlier compare-and-contrast exercise, rather than a rhetorical analysis), but I would expect this change sooner rather than later. The ACT has a reputation (well-deserved for the most part) as a more student-friendly test, and I imagine they want to keep it that way. (The ACT has never offered subject tests.)

The SAT essay will be disappearing after the June test. Should students wait to take the test until the essay is gone? Not necessarily. If you’re already signed up for a spring test, go ahead and take it. Writing the essay won’t kill you (I promise!), and considering that colleges won’t be able to compare your essay score to those of other students, they probably won’t pay much attention to it. And, not to be too much of a downer here, but although we have vaccines, we also have new variants of the virus. So it is conceivable that it will be easier to take the test this spring than in the summer or next fall. I really hope that’s not true, but you never know!

A final announcement from the College Board: computer-based, at-home SATs are coming soon. How soon? They didn’t say. But this is obviously good news. Last year, many students arrived at their testing center only to find a note on the door announcing that the test had been cancelled. Some colleges have temporarily waived the SAT requirement during the pandemic, and the College Board is no doubt doing what it can to prevent these changes from becoming permanent. More and more people are working and attending classes from home. It only makes sense that students should be able to test from home as well.

So, good news all around! No essay, no subject tests, and hopefully no more unexpected cancellations. Students and parents can save time, save money, and breathe a little easier.

no more tests 05.30.09 [150] by timlewisnm via Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0).jpg

For years, when my students have asked about accommodations, I’ve told them, “You’d better apply now because it takes forever to get approval—if you do.” But, according to the Washington Post, starting in January 2017, most students who have accommodations in school (e.g. extra time, private testing rooms, readers for students with language processing disorders) will automatically be approved for accommodations on SAT and AP tests.

You can read the College Board’s announcement here.

Even more surprising is the fact that the College Board will now allow English Language Learners access to instructions in their native language as well as bilingual glossaries. For now, however, these accommodations will be available only during state-funded school-day tests that are given once or twice a year at participating campuses.

The Washington Post article notes that the College Board used the announcement to brag about the fact that students have 43% more time per question than on the ACT. True, but the ACT doesn’t have those “evidence-based” reading questions that everyone struggles with. I still think the answer to the question “which test is better?” depends on the student, but extending access to accommodations is a step in the right direction for the SAT. The two tests have been locked in a cat-and-mouse game for a while now, so I expect the ACT to follow suit shortly.

If you have questions about accommodations on standardized tests, talk to your guidance counselor or 504 coordinator. If you are wondering which test you should target (SAT or ACT), take practice tests for both. We offer free practice tests regularly. You can also schedule a free consultation by calling our office at 512-453-7272. We look forward to hearing from you!

Project 365 #147- 270509 Testing Times Ahead by Pete via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

Scores for the first new SAT, which students took in March, have finally come back, and, just in time, the College Board has released concordance tables (i.e. comparison charts) that neatly line up new SAT scores with their pre-March 2016 test equivalents. They’ve also got tables comparing scores from the new SAT to those on the ACT. It’s all very simple and intuitive. Ha ha, just kidding; this is the College Board we’re talking about! They’ve got 16 different concordance tables! But here’s what you need to know . . .

The big picture: new scores are higher than the old scores. Overall, new SAT scores seem to be inflated by about 30-40 points per section. On the old test, an average section score (e.g. Math or Reading) was around 500. On the new test, it’s 530-540.

Similarly, the ACT average of 21 would have been roughly equivalent to a 1,000 on the old SAT but is now in the range of 1060-1090. (This information is on Table 7.) It remains to be seen what effect this change will have on automatic admissions scores. For example, Texas A&M has traditionally guaranteed admission for students with a score of 1300 on the SAT or 30 on the ACT. But now a 1300 on the SAT is comparable to a 27 on the ACT. Presumably, they’ll update their requirements, but how soon? When the SAT added the Writing Skills section in 2005 (increasing the maximum score from 1600 to 2400), many colleges were slow to adapt and continued to base their admissions requirements on the 1600 scale (ignoring the Writing Skills section altogether). This is one reason there are so many concordance tables: there are 2400- and 1600-scale conversions (Tables 1 and 2, respectively).

There are, of course, tables comparing individual sections on the old and new tests as well. The Math table (Table 3) is fairly straightforward: a 500 on the old test is equivalent to a 530 on the new. But both the Reading and Writing & Language sections on the new test are scored on a scale of 10-40, so a 500 on the old SAT Critical Reading section translates to a 27 on the new SAT Reading test. That makes Tables 4 and 5 pretty confusing.

Here’s a better way to look at them. Since the new test combines the Reading and Writing & Language scores (on a 10-40) scale for a total of 800 points on the so-called Evidence-Based Reading & Writing Section (let’s just call it the EBRW Section), you can just take one of these two-digit scores and multiply by 20. The results are similar to the math-score conversions. Take new SAT Reading test score of 27:

27 x 20 = 540

According to Table 5, a 27 on the new Reading test translates to a 500 on the old test, so again, the new scores are about 30-40 points higher per section.

Table 6 compares the new EBRW Section (200-800) score to the old Critical Reading + Writing Skills (400-1600) score. If you double the new score, it’ll be about 90 points higher than the old score, so about 45-points higher per section.

Table 7 compares the new SAT to the ACT (see above). Table 8 compares the new SAT W&L score, which does not factor in the Essay score, to the ACT English/Writing score, which does, so this table makes little sense. Feel free to ignore it.

Tables 9 through 16 (old–>new) are just Tables 1 through 8 (new–>old) reversed. Basically, they tried to make things simple by duplicating everything. Typical!

The College Board also has a score-converter app. I’m sure it’s very user friendly . . .

The new SAT Study Guide comes out tomorrow. We got an advance copy. Here’s the scoop.

The four tests in the guide are the same four tests available on the College Board website. It’s disappointing that they didn’t release more tests, but it’s nice that everything is basically free (minus the cost of ink and paper). The answer explanations are online too, so if you’re on a budget, there’s really no reason to pay for the book.

If you do pay for it (the cover price is $24.99 but Amazon has it for $17.00), you’ll get 326 pages of instructional material and practice problems, which are almost all taken from the SAT sample questions released back in March, and which are still available, with answer explanations, online.

What you will not find either in the book or online is a one-page answer key for each test. To grade a test, you have to flip through about 45 pages of answer explanations. Not very convenient! So we made up some answer keys to make things easier. You’re welcome!

New SAT Test 1 answer key

New SAT Test 2 answer key

New SAT Test 3 answer key

New SAT Test 4 answer key

no more tests 05.30.09 [150] by timlewisnm via Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0).jpg

This is the format:

Section 1: Reading: 65 minutes, 52 questions
Section 2: Writing & Language: 35 minutes, 44 questions
Section 3: Math (No Calculator): 25 minutes, 20 questions
Section 4: Math (Calculator): 55 minutes, 38 questions

Total: 180 min, 154 questions

That’s about 70 seconds per question—a little more (8 seconds) than on the old test. As noted before, they’ve also removed the 1/4 point guessing penalty and the obscure vocabulary questions, so overall this should be a less-stressful test.

I’ll be back soon with more info. Right now I’ve got some work to do!

Note: This article is about the current SAT. For info on the redesigned SAT coming in 2016, click here.

There are many books and websites out there that claim to have all the “hot words” for the SAT. One website boasts 5,000 words! Think you can memorize them all? Good luck with that.

As someone who’s spent almost eight years with these tests, I can tell you that these books and websites are not very accurate. To me it looks like the authors did no research at all, but rather just listed as many “difficult” words as possible regardless of whether those words had ever appeared on an SAT.

In any case, the test makers do not tend to use the same obscure words over and over. They don’t want the test to be predictable. Basically, their word bank is the dictionary, and with over 100,000 words in the English language, they’ve got a lot of options!

But there are some words that appear on almost every SAT simply because they are common words. And yet, most high school students don’t really know them. The following words (or close variations) appear on most of the tests in the Official SAT Guide. (I know because I checked; all it takes is a highlighter and a lot of patience.) Consider making flash cards for every word you don’t know.

1. aesthetic (adj.) – related to beauty or art: Taking an art appreciation class can enhance your understanding of aesthetic principles.

2. equitable (adj.) – equal, fair, judicious: The U.S. Constitution guarantees equitable treatment under the law for all citizens.

3. equivocal (adj.) – capable of several different interpretations, especially with the intent to deceive: The congressman’s equivocal answer didn’t really answer the journalist’s question.

4. sentimental (adj.) – expressing or appealing to emotions: The sentimental song brought tears to Mary’s eyes.

5. phenomenon (n.) – a fact, occurrence, or circumstance, especially an impressive one: A complete solar eclipse is a rare phenomenon.

6. nostalgia (n.) – fondness for the past: At the sight of his old uniform, Billy felt a keen nostalgia for his school days.

7. advocate (v.) – to support or recommend: The FDA advocates regular vaccinations for children.

8. rhetoric (n.) – the art of using written or spoken language: The professional speaker was a master of rhetoric.

9. ambivalence (n.) – uncertainty or inability to choose, especially caused by conflicting desires for two incompatible things: The candidate’s conflicting answers reflected his ambivalence on the issue.

10. temperance (n.) – moderation, especially in consumption of alcohol: Rather than accept a second glass of wine, Suzanne opted for temperance.

11. romantic (adj.) – idealistic, impractical, unrealistic: After a week sweating on the farm, Billy began to reconsider his romantic view of agricultural life.

12. elitist (n.) – a snob; a person who considers himself a member of a special class: Chet was too much of an elitist to consider attending the rodeo.

13. deliberate – 1. (adj.) on purpose: He shouldn’t be punished because his actions were not deliberate. 2. (adj.) slow, unhurried, careful: Marvin grew increasingly frustrated at the deliberate pace of life in the small town. 3. (v.) (pronounced with a long “a”) to consider: You should deliberate awhile before you answer.

14. conventional (adj.) – pertaining or conforming to general agreement, ordinary: Placing your right hand over your heart during the Pledge of Allegiance is a conventional demonstration of respect.

15. contempt (n.) – disdain, scorn, hatred, ridicule: The judge handed down the maximum sentence, explaining that he had nothing but contempt for jaywalkers.

16. cynical (adj.) – distrusting the motives of others; assuming that people act from selfish motives: Jerry was cynical about the “free hugs” campaign.

17. anxious (adj.) – worried, distressed, uneasy: Many people are anxious about public speaking.

18. commercial (adj.) – pertaining to business: The preacher complained that commercial interests have tarnished religious holidays.

19. reverence (n.) – a feeling of deep respect or veneration: The architecture student expressed a reverence for Frank Lloyd Wright.

20. integrity (n.) – adherence to moral or ethical principles, honesty: The ethics committee criticized the lawyer for his lack of integrity.

21. subtle (adj.) – not immediately obvious, difficult to grasp: Chef Louis patiently explained that there is a subtle difference between flan and crème brûlée.

22. skeptical (adj.) – doubtful, slow to accept as true: Most scientists are skeptical about the existence of UFOs.

23. lament (v.) – to express sorrow or regret over: The professor lamented the decline of voluntary reading among American high school students.

24. domestic (adj.) – devoted to the home or household: The new father declined the invitation to the poker game, citing domestic responsibilities.

25. anecdote (n.) – a short account of an event, especially an amusing one: Tommy shared a hilarious anecdote about the time he fell into an aquarium.

26. rigorous (adj.) – severe, stern, inflexible, demanding: After studying the syllabus, Henry opted for the less rigorous calculus course.

27. pragmatic (adj.) – practical: Sam wanted to take a hot-air balloon across the Atlantic, but his wife suggested the more pragmatic option of an airplane.

28. inherent (adj.) – existing within someone or something more or less permanently, essential: Many people have an inherent dislike of broccoli.

29. exclusive (adj.) – limiting to only a select few, excluding: It’s an exclusive club; they don’t admit just anyone.

30. evoke (v.) – to call up, produce, elicit, or draw forth: According to the advertisement, this laundry detergent evokes the countryside and spring rain.

31. substantiate (v.) – to establish by proof or evidence: The prosecutor was aggressive in his accusations but was unable to substantiate the allegations with physical evidence.

32. intricate (adj.) – complicated or complex: Wilbur was mesmerized by the intricate pattern in the spider’s web.

33. digress (v.) – to deviate (wander away) from the main topic, to “go off on a tangent”: After rambling for ten minutes about his preference for non-dairy creamer, Dr. Franklin realized he had digressed from the lecture topic.

Of course, the best way to build a vocabulary is to read a lot of books, looking up unfamiliar words as you encounter them. So, if you don’t already, read for at least 30 minutes every day!

This is our second post about the upcoming changes to the SAT. To read the first post, click here.

Last week the College Board released sample questions for the new SAT. (If you didn’t get the memo, you might want to start checking our Facebook page.)

Here’s what we’ve learned:

The math is tough! There are trig functions, radians, imaginary numbers, and other high-level math concepts not found on the current SAT. Some of the problems require more steps than we’re used to as well. Consider this geometry problem, for example, which is considerably more complex than any geometry problem in the Official SAT Guide. And take a look at this multi-paragraph word problem. These problems look like what you’d see on an SAT Math Subject test.

As for the Critical Reading, it doesn’t seem drastically more difficult than the current test, but with only 24 questions over five passages, it’s hard to say. We already knew there would be no fill-in-the-blank vocabulary questions, and the three vocabulary-in-context questions are easy. There are also three questions of the form “which choice provides the best evidence for the answer to the previous question?” They’re all easy—as long as you got the previous question right.

As expected, some of the reading passages come with graphs and illustrations, but the questions about them are pretty easy. There are no “founding documents,” as the College Board’s earlier press releases had led us to expect, but there is a speech by Barbara Jordan (1974) and an excerpt from an Edith Wharton novel (1911). The other passages are from science and social science contexts and are all from 2010 or later.

The Writing portion looks very much like an ACT English section, with questions going beyond mere grammar, asking things like “should this sentence be kept or deleted?” I wouldn’t say it’s necessarily harder than the current Writing Skills section, just different.

The essay asks you to analyze how an author builds a persuasive argument. This task is more difficult than answering a general question like “can knowledge be a burden?” or “is money a more powerful motivator than conscience?” The responses are graded on three different criteria: reading, analysis, and writing. So, to get a good score in each area, you have to understand what the author is saying, recognize the author’s use of persuasive rhetorical devices, and demonstrate this knowledge in coherent, eloquent prose. Piece of cake, right?

If you’re ready to start preparing for the 2016 SAT (or the 2015 PSAT), these sample questions are a great place to start. The College Board is planning to release more material in March, and when they do, we’ll let you know.

In the spring of 2016, the College Board will launch the redesigned SAT. What will change? The short answer is that the new SAT will look more like the ACT—no guessing penalty, less vocabulary, more charts and graphs. There’s more to it than that, but with the reboot still in progress, the College Board isn’t saying much. The details are hazy, but according to the College Board website, there will be eight key changes. Of course, these summaries are like a lot of SAT problems—convoluted and confusing. Here they are in plain English.

1. Vocabulary: The new SAT will scrap questions about obscure vocabulary words like obsequious and magnanimity and instead ask students to identify the meanings of more ordinary words in context. For example, the word “acute” can mean “sharp,” “intense,” or “clever,” depending on the context. In fact, the current SAT already has these “vocabulary in context” questions on the passage-based portion of the Critical Reading section.

2. Evidence-Based Sections: The new SAT will combine the Reading and Writing portions into a single “evidence based” test. Here’s what that means:

Reading: Some questions will require students to select a sentence from the passage that best supports their answer to the previous question. For example, question #7 might ask, “How does Daisy feel about Tom?” And #8 might ask, “Which of the following sentences from the passage best supports your answer to question #7?” Some passages will also be paired with infographics.

Writing: Much like on the ACT English test, students will analyze multi-paragraph passages rather than focusing stand-alone sentences (like on the current SAT). This section will also require students to edit passages so that they accurately convey information from infographics.

3. Essay Analyzing a Source: This new essay will also be evidence-based. Students will read a source document and write an essay explaining how the author constructs his or her argument. This sounds much more difficult than the current essay format. The idea is to make the SAT essay more like college essays.

The essay will be optional (like on the ACT), but some colleges will require it. In other words, it’s only optional if the colleges you are applying to don’t require it. Read your prospective colleges’ admissions requirements carefully. If you’re applying to Yale, and Yale requires the essay, then for you the essay is required.

4. Math that Matters: The new math section will focus on three areas: Problem Solving and Data Analysis (using ratios, percents, and proportions to solve problems in science, social science, and career contexts), The Heart of Algebra (linear equations and systems, abstract thinking), and Passport to Advanced Math (manipulation of complex equations—the College Board is pretty vague on this one).

In addition to these areas, some problems will test geometry and trigonometry skills “relevant to colleges and careers.” (Note: the current SAT does not have any trig function—sine, cosine, tangent—questions.)

5. Problems Grounded in Real World Contexts: The primary focus of the redesign is to make the SAT less abstract and more practical—in other words, more like the ACT. The Reading/Writing section may have fiction passages, but it seems the focus will be on non-fiction passages from the humanities, hard sciences, social sciences, and “career contexts.” On the Math section, students will be presented with several charts and graphs relating to some real-world scenario (e.g. television-viewing statistics or fluctuations in the price of soybeans) and asked several questions requiring them to integrate information from these various sources.

6. Analysis in Science and History/Social Studies: The new SAT will require students to “apply their reading, writing, language, and math skills to answer questions in science, history, and social studies contexts.” Basically, it sounds like the Reading/Writing and Math sections will be more integrated than on the current SAT (more reading on the Math section, and more charts and graphs on the Reading/Writing section). Students will also be asked to revise texts to make them consistent with infographics related to “recent discoveries, political developments, global events, and health and environmental issues.” These kinds of infographics are common in National Geographic Magazine.

7. Founding Documents and the Great Global Conversation: Every new SAT will contain excerpts from U.S. founding documents (e.g. The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Federalist Papers) and documents from “the great global conversation,” that is, politically-themed documents by authors like Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglas, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Henry David Thoreau, and Martin Luther King Jr. The College Board website specifically mentions Mary Wollstonecraft, Edmund Burke, and Mohandas Gandhi. The founding documents as well as texts by all these authors are available for free online. If you want to start studying for the new SAT now, start reading these texts—along with notes.

8. No Penalty for Wrong Answers: On the current SAT, you lose one-quarter point for every wrong answer. Taking away the guessing penalty makes the test easier because students won’t ever have to decide when to guess. If a wrong answer gets you the same result as leaving the question blank, then guessing is a no-brainer. You might as well guess and move on to the next question; there’s nothing to lose. Decision making is mentally and emotionally taxing. Taking a little stress off students should actually make it easier to get a more accurate assessment of their performance on the test material.

The College Board will release a full-length practice test in March of 2015. Until then, students should make sure their basic math and reading skills are up to par. Since the new SAT will be more like the current ACT, and since practically every university will accept either test, now is a great time to study for the ACT. If your ACT score is good enough, you probably won’t even need to take the new SAT, but if you do, the skills you develop studying for the ACT should transfer.