Eric Hoover's article "Everything You Need to Know About the New SAT" was published by the New York Times on October 28, 2015. In March, the SAT will be changing to a new format and to a new question style. Instead of being three sections, it will only be two with an optional essay section.
This essay will not be about a personal experience; instead it will be a rhetorical analysis paper. The vocabulary section will be about interpreting the meaning of common words in a passage, not determining the definition of "abstruse" vocabulary. Additionally, the math section will be moving away from geometry and more towards algebra. Despite all these changes, experts say that it is about the same level of difficulty as the current version.
The story highlights how much education has changed over time. When the colonies gained their independence, very few people went to school and even fewer went to college, which at the time focused on religion and latin and other theoretical subjects. After the Antebellum age, in which education system went under a lot of reform, more schools were founded, better teachers were hired, and longer terms were established. Now, school seems to be all about test taking and getting into one of the thousands of colleges in the United States. This is definitely an improvement from the single room schools in the 1800s, but we still have a long way to go.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/01/education/edlife/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-new-sat.html?contentCollection=weekendreads&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=c-column-middle-span-region®ion=c-column-middle-span-region&WT.nav=c-column-middle-span-region
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ReplyDeleteIt seems like the test is geared toward practical knowledge now. Algebra is more useful then geometry, and interpreting the use of common words over obscure, outdated ones will help us much more in the long run. Hopefully this change will encourage teachers to focus on life-essential skills in the classroom since that's what the SAT tests us on.
ReplyDeleteReading this makes me excited for the SAT. It seems as though they're attempting to gear the test towards material that will actually be useful to us after college and beyond. I am excited to see what the new SAT will bring in March.
ReplyDeleteIt's great to have kind of an inside look at a test that we'll all have to take eventually, it's also pretty amazing that their including information that we have a higher chance of needing later in life. One of the most common things I hear around pretty much any school is, "I'll never need to use this information in my life."
ReplyDeleteShelby Linker, 8th period
I'm glad that they are making the test shorter. Not just because I hate taking tests but also because there are some people who have severe test anxiety and don't do well on things like the SAT. -Mattie Whisler 9th period Flex
ReplyDelete