NY Times says new SAT here in 2015

Test Preparation
1

<p>I'm new to this, so I don't know how much talk there's been about a proposed new SAT, but the NY Times ran a big article this week saying it will be unveiled in 2015. </p>

<p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/04/education/edlife/what-the-new-sat-and-digital-act-might-look-like.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/04/education/edlife/what-the-new-sat-and-digital-act-might-look-like.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Some highlights:</p>

<p>In the new SAT, to be unveiled in 2015, David Coleman, president of the College Board, wants to get rid of obscure words that are . . . just SAT words, and replace them with more common words like “synthesis,” “distill” and “transform,” used in context as they will be in college and in life. </p>

<p>And the math? “There are a few things that matter disproportionately, like proportional reasoning, linear equations and linear functions,” Mr. Coleman said. “Those are the kinds of things we’re going to concentrate on.”</p>

<p>...</p>

<p>Mr. Coleman, who became president last October, is intent on rethinking the SAT to make it an instrument that meshes with what students are learning in their classrooms. Meanwhile, the ACT, which has always been more curriculum-based, is the first of the two to move into the digital age. In adapting its test for the computer, ACT Inc. is tiptoeing past the fill-in-the-bubble Scantron sheets toward more creative, hands-on questions. </p>

<p>...</p>

<p>Since he arrived at the College Board in October, Mr. Coleman has been working on a fundamental redesign of the SAT, which he announced in February. The test, he said, should focus on “things that matter more so that the endless hours students put into practicing for the SAT will be work that’s worth doing.” </p>

<p>...</p>

<p>Over and over, Mr. Coleman returns to the need to prod students into marshaling their evidence. “The heart of the revised SAT will be analyzing evidence,” he said. “The College Board is reaching out to teachers and college faculty to help us design questions that, for example, could ask students to use math to analyze the data in an economics study or the results of a scientific experiment, or analyze the evidence provided within texts in literature, history, geography or natural science.” </p>

<p>...</p>

<p>Story also notes that the ACT passed the SAT in market share last year, and so the SAT is becoming more like ACT to compete.</p>

2

<p>so im guessing we can’t make up examples anymore on the essay section?</p>

3

<p>From the article:</p>

<p>Most likely, he said, the outlines — sections on critical reading and math and a 25-minute essay — will remain the same. But Mr. Coleman has made known his discomfort with the essay, which puts no premium on accuracy. Students can get top marks for declaring that the Declaration of Independence was written by Justin Bieber and sparked the French Revolution, as long as the essay is well organized and develops a point of view.</p>

<p>“We should not be encouraging students to make up the facts,” Mr. Coleman said. “We should be asking them to construct an argument supported by their best evidence.”</p>

4

<p>Thank goodness I don’t have to take that SAT.</p>

<p>I still don’t really see much correlation between potential student success and the SAT.</p>

5

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<p>And the data supports your skepticism.</p>

6

<p>Ding Dong the witch is dead (hopefully)! It will be interesting to see how many students sign up for the old test before it expires. There could be extreme numbers between final old tests and the new.</p>

7

<p>Wow! Can’t decide if I’m happy or not about not having the new test lol.</p>

8

<p>-.- so i guess all that VOCABULARY i’ve been memorizing for the past year is going to be absolutely nothing but blubbish and will come nothing to good use anymore. mr.coleman, i thank you in honor of helping out the lazy and depriving the hard work of others who put great effort to prepare for your vocab critical reading section early. </p>

<p>i just hope this new sat won’t alter that much. … sigh… now i’m not even confident enough to ensure myself if I’m even preparing for a reason, the test might change and everything i’ve been building up on would be all lost by 2015 new sat.</p>

9

<p>Missed it by a year (whew). Same might go for the PSAT. Since the PSAT changed a year earlier than the SAT did (2004), then would the 2014 PSAT not follow the structure of 2015 SAT?</p>