<p>It’s because the ACT is easier than the SAT for most people, and Collegeboard felt they were slowly losing control over the test market, as well as losing clients. I think the actual SAT is a better test than the ACT, because the ACT tests more on scholastic aptitude, whereas the SAT is more on logic. And being good at school is not in correlation with future success. But intelligence is.</p>
<p>If you make 5% more income in a year where inflation went up 5% are you any richer? NO! Whether the test appears easier (or harder) the fact remains that it is still a test designed to establish a student’s overall ranking - something that will always be needed for admissions purposes. To improve your ranking, you will need to prepare (study) harder than the next person. Nothing has, nor will it ever, change.</p>
<p>@Hazzan97, I must have gotten the same experimental section on the Nov. SAT, because it was exactly like you describe. I thought the section was pretty easy. I never took the ACT so I don’t know what it’s like, but if that is what the writing section is turning into - yikes. I actually like the current writing sections. (I’m good at grammar, so I can do pretty well at them.) It was just cheesy to me - it felt silly. </p>
Hey I’m a sophomore (class of 2017)
I will be taking the old SAT, but I want to get National Merit which means I have to take the new PSAT and in turn must take the new SAT. Junior Year is going to suck (I’m in IB as well). But anyways, I’ve already bought the Blue Book for the old SAT, but I am clueless as to what to use to prepare for the new PSAT/SAT. I’ve checked on the CB website and they say they will be releasing materials on Khan Academy in January, but does anyone know if they will release another official review book? Somehow, I don’t feel Khan Academy will be helpful in prepping for me…
Thanks!
@stantonstudent I’m also in the sophomore class of 2017. I will also be taking the old SAT, and it sucks to have to take a new PSAT for Natl Merit. But are you sure that you also have to take the new SAT? I figured that I would screw the new SAT if I got a good score on the old SAT.
@xiggi : “Fwiw, dropping the guessing penalties will bring a different dimension to the SAT. Ultimately, there will be fewer and fewer differences between the two tests.”
Well this is exactly the point, isn’t it? The ACT is widely seen as the more favorable test to the majority of students (Around 75% of the students in my senior class who took both did better on ACT than SAT, most by a wide margin) and so the College Board has to dumb down their test in order to keep pace and regain widespread preference. The elimination of a score-affecting essay prompt, the shift away from testing vocabulary, the adoption of more knowledge-based instead of intuition-based questions: these are all differences that, until now, made the ACT the preferred test of American students. And the College Board fears for their economic survival, not the survival of education as a whole.
Sophomores and freshmen better get cracking on their college essays, because with the rapidly impending death of standardized college admissions testing, subjectivity will become the largest factor in admissions soon.
@Cornbread1999 – as far as I know, you will be able to use a score from the old SAT as the confirming score for NMSQ. So, yes, you will have to take the new format PSAT but can take the old format SAT this school year or Oct, Nov, Dec or Jan of your Jr year.
Cornbread - I’m planning to get above a 2300 on the old sat I’ll prob take it in October and if I need to take it again then I will (the last administration of the old sat is in January 2016)
If I do well enough on the psat (ie in the range for national merit) then in order to qualify I have take the new sat as a confirmatory test (basically I have to match my psat score)
At my school we take the psat every year from freshman year - so I definetly will be taking the new PSAT , but I’m still deciding:
if I dont do well enough on it to qualify for national merit, will I still take the new SAT (assuming I did well on the old SAT)
Any thoughts?
-Stantonstudent
Sorry if someone already said this- but will the PSAT in 2015 be like this too? Will the vocab be the same because i just started memorizing lots of words and i just found out that the 2016 SAT is completely different when it comes to vocab… I’m class of 17’ first wave to take it X_X
Since the SAT will be graded on a 1600 scale, will the PSAT be graded on a 160 scale?
I’m guessing not. Double-counting verbal and then the two verbal tests were fixes to keep the NMSF from being mostly male. They don’t want to go back to having that problem.
The Dean of Students is advising that the sophomores at my school who are becoming Juniors next year take the ACT over the SAT because she doesn’t want their scores to be bad because of them being guinea pigs for the new test format.
That’s dumb.