SAT preparation

The SAT exam appeared in its new format last year on March 12th. Here we wish to remind our readers what were the new additions and modifications.

Since last year students started getting one score (between 200-800) each for math, critical reading and writing; a perfect score is now 2400 :

o Mathematics: There is more emphasis on graphs and visual interpretation and representation of data. Concepts like notation of function and exponential growth are tested and there are some questions from higher level, Algebra II. Quantitative comparisons, which used to count for 25 percent of the math score, are taken out of the test.

o Critical Reading: This is a new format of the verbal portion of the test. We think no student will complain about new changes in comprehension test: in addition to traditional long passages for comprehension questions, there will also be shorter passages to read. No more "Analogies" but probably you cannot escape it. It might appear in some other format in, say, some comprehension questions.

o Writing. This entirely new section generated lot of anxieties among young minds and adult minds of their parents as well. The "essay" part seems to be the greatest headache for most: But it counts for only 30 percent of the writing score. The rest are 49 multiple-choice grammar questions. The multiple choice questions ask students to identify errors, and the best ways to improve sentences and paragraphs. We think grammer questions are more challenging part to students throughout the nation where, unlike in UK, literature is given more emphasis than nitty-gitty details of correct construction of language. The concerned students must know that "Essay" constitutes only about one-tenth of the whole score and test-time. Students need to tackle the essay first, for 25 minutes. After that, they have three hours, 20 minutes to go for the rest of the Writing section and other 2 sections.

Practicing is very important and if you spend money to go to a preparatory class, they may just make your kid to do that. A free, full-length practice test is available at CollegeBoard. For fun ... parents may also try that! [Also check Registration Deadlines & Test Dates for SAT]