SAT I and PSAT Changes

January 2004

Please be advised that the College Board is implementing changes to the PSAT in October 2004 and the SAT in March 2005.

Here's a quick look at the changes for the SAT I and PSAT:

1.     Writing Section.  The SAT will  now require students to write an essay that will measure how well students use standard written English.  Also, the new writing section will now contain multiple-choice questions on grammar and sentence structure, similar to what's now contained in the writing SAT II, which will be eliminated.  The inclusion of this new writing section makes it even more important for VHS to give top priority to teaching writing and to ensure that students understand grammar and sentence structure.  There will be no essay on the PSAT.

2.     Critical reading.  The verbal section on the current SAT will become the Critical Reading section on the new SAT.  This section will be more focused on assessing reading comprehension, with short reading passages (about 100 words long) and long reading passages (increased from 500 to 800 words.)  The new SAT will not contain analogies.  The sentence completion questions will remain.

3.     Math.  The math section on the SAT will now contain problems for Algebra II but will no longer contain quantitative comparison questions.  The PSAT will not contain questions from Algebra II because most high school sophomores will not have covered the necessary material.  However, the PSAT will contain higher level math concepts.

4.     Scoring.  Essays will be scored in a manner similar to that of the current SAT II writing test, which uses a scale from 1-6.  Scoring on the remainder of the test will remain the same, using the 200-800 scale, and scores for future tests will mean the same, meaning, for example, that a 500 on the former test will mean the same as a 500 on the new test.

5.     Getting information.  The College Board Web site, www.collegboard.org, contains updated information on the new SAT.  Please refer staff, students and parents to this resource.  For tips on updating instruction, see the downloadable publication, The New SAT and Your School System, at the Web site.  The College Board will publish the updated version of 10 Real SAT's, a book of sample tests, in April 2004.  If you believe these will be helpful, please send purchase orders to my office for processing.