The Writing Section Should Be Taken Out to Pasture and Shot

Test Preparation SAT Preparation
1

<p>I still cannot figure out why the College Board added the Writing section to the SAT. I really think the members of the College Board made a bad decision. What was wrong with offering Writing as a separate SAT II for those students who were applying to schools that required it? </p>

<p>Furthermore, as far as I know, many competitive colleges and universities have not followed the College Board’s lead. In other words, they have not made the results of the Writing section an important part of their admissions thinking. Kudos to them.</p>

<p>Adding the Writing section has only made the SAT a longer more onerous test. In fact, I have seen many students settle for overall SAT scores that are below their potential, simply because they cannot bear the thought of retaking a test on a Saturday morning that takes over five hours to administer. I think the members of the College Board should (a) swallow their pride, (b) admit that their good intentions led to a bad decision, and (c) revert to the old SAT format that included only Math and Verbal.</p>

2

<p>the writing section is by FAR the easiest section to prepare for on the new SAT. regardless of how different the subject matter may be from the original math and verbal sections, it's simply a matter of practice and more practice. it certainly doesn't take over FIVE hours to complete the test, despite the length that has been inevitably added due to the writing section; it really is another way for colleges to measure yet another academic dimension.</p>

3

<p>^ You have to include time to pass the tests out and such. Doesn't sound like it would amount to much, but when I took ONE subject test, it took more than two hours before I was out of there.</p>

4

<p>I administer the New SAT on occasion and it does take over 5 hours. Students arrive a little before 8:00 am and they are usually released sometime after 1:00 pm.</p>

<p>My point was not that the Writing section is unduly hard. In fact, I agree that sum33th that practicing is the key. My main points were simply that the writing section makes the SAT unduly long and offering the writing section as a separate SAT II seemed to work just fine for the colleges that required it.</p>