I just returned from a College Board workshop offered to area counselors on the new SAT. The SAT is the College Board’s flagship college readiness assessment yet recent research indicated that 57% of SAT test takers in the 2013 cohort lacked academic skills for college entry coursework without remediation. Recognizing the necessity for a stronger link between a college readiness assessment and application the College Board decided to redesign the SAT to meet three goals. First, the test must provide to higher education a more accurate and informative picture of student readiness for college level
work. Second, the test must become more clearly focused on the knowledge and skills that research indicates are essential for college success. Third, the test must better reflect the rigorous work that students are engaged in, in the classroom everyday, thereby creating congruency between assessment and instruction.
The many changes to the SAT include: what is being assessed, how it is scored and how students can prepare. The test will include three sections – evidenced based writing and reading, mathematics and an optional essay.
To link the core curriculum to the SAT test, reading and writing prompts will focus on Founding Documents such as the United States Constitution and The Federalist Papers. These sections will require students to cite evidence for their answers and will include reading passages from a broader range of disciplines, including science, history, social studies and literature. There will also be a change in vocabulary from “SAT words” to words used in high school and college curricula. In the reading and writing sections students will have to consider the context of words such as “synthesis.” The math section will focus on data analysis and real world problem solving equations.
In many ways the 2016 SAT is going to be similar to the current version of the ACT. Sub scores similar to those on the current ACT will be reported, and a solid understanding of history and social science will be prove important. The ACT is scored on a scale of 1 to 36, where the final result is an average of the four multiple-choice sections. The SAT is scored out of 2400, with 800 points each for reading, math, and writing, and the essay is marked on a scale from 2-12. In 2016, there will be a shift, SAT scores will be out of 1600 and there will no longer be a penalty for guessing incorrect answers.
In an effort to level the test preparation playing field, the College Board will partner with Khan Academy to provide FREE TEST PREPARATION materials beginning in spring 2015. Subsequently, income-eligible students will receive fee waivers to apply to four colleges for free.
For more information and to view sample test questions visit the College Board’s website.
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