Thank you @jym626. It sounds like VA Tech is going a step further than my “admissions expert” was saying. Not only does VA Tech “prefer” the new SAT, it will not even accept the old SAT. Could you share the source of your quote? (How do you know that VA Tech is the ONLY school to take this approach for the class of 2017?)
Do you know if any of the schools that will accept either the old SAT or the new SAT or the ACT will in fact give some sort of “preference” or to students who have taken the new SAT?
Do you know of any reason (other than for VA Tech) why a student who achieves an excellent old SAT score should take the time and effort to also take the new SAT?
Quote is from a college prep tutoring colleague, but I believe you might have to be on his list to get the newsletters.
As long as these SAT scores are pretty recent, there is no reason to take the new SAT. If your child is a NMSF next year, they’ll need a corroborating SAT score, but I cant recall how far back they’d accept an SAT. You can find that on their site, I believe.
It appears that as expected, the test prep industry is heavily pushing the old SAT and/or the ACT (since they have the established tutors and materials) and trying to scare people away from the new SAT. As a result, all the tiger moms plus generally organised kids will follow suit. Therefore, if one’s child happens to test well wouldn’t it make sense to take the new SAT this spring since the student pool taking the test will be weaker and the test prep industry won’t be organised around the new test yet? What does everyone think?
@londondad My dd has made the decision to only take the new SAT. She prepped for the PSAT and doesn’t want to waste time prepping for the old SAT. So, there you go, one teenager’s logic.
At a college fair that I attended, a UC-Berkeley rep said that class of 2017 (current juniors) would have to submit scores from the new SAT (at least that is what I recollect). However, I did not see confirmation of this on the UC website.
I think some kids might do better on the new SAT than on the old SAT or the ACT. If yours is one of these, it makes sense for her to take the new SAT. You can assess this by having her do a complete official practice test under simulated test conditions. You have to figure into the calculation that the preparation materials are much less abundant. If she needs a lot of additional practice, it’s probably best to stay away until more materials become available.
She has taken 2 of CB’s released samples and has scored very high, so she says she is done thinking about it and will take the March test. Whether or not that is a good or bad idea, I have no idea. If it turns out to be a bad idea, she’ll have to prep for the ACT’s Sept test or do more prep for the new SAT.
If her score was at or near her target, it sounds like a reasonable plan A with a reasonable plan B. I think the old SAT and/or ACT strategy applies to kids who need to do significant prep to reach their goals, or who do worse on the Redesigned practice tests than on the other tests.
I think some kids are going to do really well on the new test. But it’s still good to have a plan B because life is full of surprises, and the scoring curves for the new test have yet to be finalized.
My daughter and I looked over a sample PSAT in preparation for the test this week. It was clear that the new SAT is very, very different from the old SAT. As far as the math part goes, for example, I’ve heard it described (and I agree) that the old SAT tested easy math in complex or tricky ways (and those who do best might be those who are more big picture, creative out-of-the box thinkers), the ACT tests math with straightforward problems but a lot of time pressure, and the new SAT tests somewhat more difficult math in a straightforward way with less time pressure. Some kids will do much better on one test than the other; some kids will do great on all three. It will all be “fine” in the long run; it’s just difficult for the students who happen to be in the transition years.
I wonder when U.S. News and other ranking organizations will start to rank colleges based on average new SAT scores as opposed to old SAT scores. THAT will no doubt affect when colleges will start to prefer to see strong new SAT scores instead of strong old SAT scores.
There are definitely still tricks and traps on the new SAT math. It is MORE like school math, but there are plenty of things the kids aren’t going to learn in school.
My class of 2017 daughter is taking the old SAT. Made the decision based on advice from all the experts in our area to stick with the tried and true. Have read that so many schools that are saying they will accept old and new SAT for class of 2017. We thought this was the best decision. Then our state flagship posts the following and throughout us a little curve. Are they going to frown on the old SAT? Thoughts?
“Freshmen entering the University of Florida beginning Summer/Fall 2017 and beyond should submit SAT scores from the new test. However, we will continue to accept scores from the pre-2016 version of the test. The College Board will provide us with concordance information about how scores from the pre-2016 version of the test translate into scores from the redesigned test.”
Have your daughter complete an official Redesigned SAT practice test under simulated test conditions.
If her score is the same or better as her score on the old test, she should sit both the old and new tests. She should (and can) do only minimal prep for the new test. She should prep the old test however she was planning to prep it. She can submit the best of the two scores with her application, or both if both are good or about the same.
If her score on the Redesigned practice test is significantly lower than her score on the old test, she should forget about the new test. It is not easy to prep the new test with the available materials. Even if a university likes the new test, it is going to like higher scores on the old test more.
Caveat:
If this amount of testing is going to mess up her life or school work, don’t even give her the Redesigned practice test. Just stick with the old test. It’s not worth messing up the rest of her life. She will be ok with good scores on the old test.
Thanks everybody for the helpful advice. This whole issue just seems like a real mess. The ACT does not work for us due to the severe time pressure of the exam (which is an issue for dd) and the total lack of overlap with the UK school curricullum. This is especially frustrating as she has stellar grades, high SAT subject test scores, good ECs and goes to a strong high school. Hopefully they will focus on these other qualifications. Oh, well, she has her PSATs today, so fingers crossed!!
I don’t know everything about the UK curriculum, but my guess is that a student who is doing really well in it should be in great shape for the Reading and Writing on the new SAT.
For math, it will depend how closely the UK national curriculum aligns with the Common Core. The new SAT has a huge amount of statistics on it. I don’t know about the UK, but in Italy the national high school math program contains NO statistics and NO probability.Going forward, there will be a lot of new self-study topics in statistics for these students. Non-native speakers of English are also likely to have trouble with the number, length, and verbal complexity of the word problems.
On the bright side, statistics is not that hard to self-study. Further, often international students get tons of practice with numerical arithmetic and fractions, as well as with algebra and graphing with a pencil, so strong students will be in relatively good shape for the non-calculator math section.
Did she complete the Official PSAT Practice Test under timed conditions? This should give you a rough estimate of how she might do on the new SAT without much additional prep. You can also assess her weak areas, if any. It might be better not to wait until the PSAT scores come out in December.
@plotinus - thanks. I have asked her many, many times to do a Practice PSAT under timed conditions, but homework or her volunteer job always seems to get in the way, plus she has Subject Tests in December which she has studied for. Sigh! I will try again. Anyway, it is too late for her to take the old SAT now anyway, so we are tied into the new exam.
She took PSAT this morning and seems happy with how it went.
I gave the sat this month and plan to apply in fall 2016. I prepped for months and prayed for weeks and managed to get a 2170
I’ve even planned to give it in jan for hopefully a better superscore.
Two colleges so far have completely made my sat score invalid, and idk how many have already to prefer the new one. If this continues I honestly give up on this prep for college. If the admission officers are so blind they can’t predict thousands have already given the old sat to apply in 2016 then to hell with this. I’d rather flip burgers than accept I wasted half a year of prepping and praying and what was to my family a decent amount of money for books and registerstion. Screw you colleges.
