A Complete Break Down of the NEW SAT 2016

So the College Board will be changing the SAT yet again in 2016. They desire to be relevant and plan to do this by aligning the SAT to the current Common Core standards that have been implemented by 44 states in the US. What does this mean for test takers?

If you are a student in a state that has adopted Common Core like Virginia, Alaska, Oklahoma, Texas, Indiana, and Nebraska, you should be well prepared if you are excelling in your classwork. Let’s take a look at some key components of the new SAT and compare it to the old SAT.

Time (Seconds per Question)

The new SAT is clearly allowing more time per question on all sections. This may help alleviate the pressure and anxiety students feel when taking the current SAT.

Math

On the new SAT, students will be given more time to answer questions and this is only fair seeing that the questions will be more complex. Questions will focus more on conceptual understanding and more of the questions will test algebraic skills rather than geometry. Also, the formerly absent trigonometry, radians, and congruence theorems will be present in a new category called “Additional Topics in Math.”

The math questions are aligned to Common Core and seem to be more challenging as well. The questions are designed so that it is harder to work backwards from the answer choices given. Also the no calculator, yes the NO CALCULATOR section may prove to be difficult for many students who are dependent upon technology to confirm their answers.

Writing

In 2005, the SAT dropped the analogies and added the current writing section which tests students’ grammar and rhetorical skills using sentence improvements, paragraph improvements, and error identification. Now, the 2016 SAT is changing the writing section to allow students to “apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions in different contexts, to make effective choices for meaning or style, and to comprehend more fully when reading or listening”, or in other words to exemplify common core standard, ELA-Literacy.L11-12.1. The new format is very similar to the ACT English format. Passages are on the left hand side and multiple choice problems on the right hand side offer edits to the errors embedded in the passages. The new SAT will also offer questions that test redundancy and punctuation like commas, semicolons, and colons. Additionally, charts and tables will be added to the end of some passages in order to test students’ ability to analyze data. This doesn’t seem like the best place for data analysis to take place, but students should be prepared to see this.

Essay

Instead of a mandatory essay, the new SAT will offer an optional essay at the end of the test. Students will have 50 minutes instead of 25 minutes to write an essay, but there is a catch; the essay will focus more on analysis rather than persuasive writing. Instead or presenting an opinion on the issue, students are required to “explain how the author builds an argument to persuade his audience. “ The essay will allow graders to assess student’s analytical and reasoning skills more effectively.

Reading

Some people will be relieved to know that expressions like “SAT words” will soon be extinct. No longer will students have to memorize obscure vocabulary to ace the SAT sentence completion section; it has been deleted. Now students will be asked to define simpler words using the context of a passage.

The passage reading will contain passages that will come from Science, Literature, Humanities, and Social Studies. Here students will see charts and figures again to accompany the science passages. Additionally, at least one of the passages will be drawn from a US founding document or from the “Great Global Conversation”, esteemed documents contributing to pertinent issues in the world.

With all of these changes taking place, I would suggest two things.

1. Encourage any eligible student you know to take the current SAT now, before the changes occur.

2. Plan to get prepared for the test at least 12 months in advance.

Success Prep offers prep courses around Metro Atlanta as well as one-on-one tutoring. We understand that the key to success is preparation!

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