SAT exam & exam prep overview

SAT Exam Prep

SAT Exam overview

• SAT = "Scholastic Assessment Test"
• owned by the College Board (CB)
  • we will use "CB" here, although the College Board does not refer to itself by the abbreviation)
• SAT tests are developed and administered by Educational Testing Service (ETS)
  • SAT accounts for 25% of ETS functions
  • ETS creates also develops and administers TOEFL ("Test of English as a Foreign Language"), GRE (graduate school admissions), and Praxis (for teachers)
• note that CB and ETS are non-profits but both engage in aggressive business practices

Background

• started in 1926
• the purpose of the SAT was to create a merit-based college admissions metric independent of student grades, school, and demographic
• originally called "SAT I: Reasoning Test" (SAT I dropped in 2004, "reasoning test" dropped in 2016)
• the SAT II was originally "SAT II: Subject Tests"
• the official of the SAT test changed from "Scholastic Aptitude Test" to SAT, and the CB claimed those letters were no longer abbreviations for anything

2016 changes

• in 2014, College Board announced fundamental changes in the SAT test
  • CB claimed it was because the test had "become disconnected from the work of our high schools.”
  • it was also in response rising popularity of the ACT test CB changed core test format
    • ACT = "American College Testing" (title since dropped, refers to itself solely as "ACT")
    • in 2012, more students took the ACT than the SAT for the first time (see [test (wiki)]
    • the SAT test was changed to follow a similar format as the ACT
      • source A New SAT Aims to Realign With Schoolwork(NY Times)]
• starting 2016, the SAT changes included:
  • total score returned to 1600
  • 4 instead of 5 possible answers
  • dropped the 1/4-point penalty for wrong answers
    • the penalty was designed to encourage skipping and penalize random guessing
  • math narrowed to focus on linear equations, equations or functions, rations, percentages and proportional reasoning
  • "critical reading" section changed to "evidence-based" (passage-based) reading excerpts (like the ACT)
  • grammar section changed to "evidence-based" (passage-based) reading excerpts (like the ACT)
  • verbal section vocabulary changed to evidence-based selection and use of more common words
  • essay now optional (thus the total score of 1600 instead of the previous 2400)

• • CB partnered with Khan Academy in order to offer free preparation instruction and practice

Essay section & Subject tests dropped 2021

• the College Board dropped the essay (after the June, 2021 test, although it will be offered in some states as per state rules
• also dropped Subject Tests
  • the official reason for these changes was because of changes in college admissions requirements due to the COVID crisis
  • anecdotally, we can assume it was due to severe drop in revenue as result of the crisis

Preparation & Practice Options

• the College Board published the "Official SAT Practice Book"
  • 2018 edition
    • includes Practice tests 1-8
  • 2021 edition
    • includes Practice tests 1, 3, 4-10
• Princeton Review
  • started in 1981, now owned by ST Unitas, a Korean Ed-tech company

SAT Exam Practice

• "practice" = replication of performance or game-day sitution
  • therefore, "SAT practice" is NOT online
  • online "practice" is "enrichment" not "practice"

SAT Enrichment

• enrichment means enhancement, getting better
• there are many enrichment sites and manuals
  • treat them as enrichment and not practice
• daily problems, vocabulary, etc. is excellent enrichment
  • but it is not practice
• above all, ON-LINE "practice" is not practice
  • the test is not on-line: it is sit-down, on-paper
  • therefore, SAT prep that is not sit-down, online, with official practice or released actual tests, using pencil, clock, and bubble sheet IS NOT PRACTICE

SAT Practice

• practice is mimicking test-day situation
  • research shows that replication via practice of actual exam situation yields higher actual exam results
• SAT practice looks like:
  • desk and chair
  • Official SAT practice test in booklet form
    • not one-sided sheets, not online: booklet
  • using pencil and bubble sheet
  • analog clock (could be a computer app)
  • no distractions
  • full-length practice tests
    • can be divided by section, but not less than a section

Benefits of SAT Practice

• familiarity with the types of passages and questions
• developing elimination strategies
• de-coding the way the test-makers build correct and, more importantly, incorrect answers
• tome awareness
• review of responses and understanding why answers are right or wrong
• identify Easy-Medium-Hard questions and passages
• increasing accuracy and efficiency with each practice exam
• bubble sheets use and strategies
• maintaining focus across full-length practice
  • building resistance to length and getting past boring
  • getting used to test-day situation
  • sitting upright & no distractions
  • use of juice, fruit-bar, or other natural source of glucose (natural sugar) for refreshment between sections as you would on test day
  • practicing breathing, stretching, fidgeting and other refocusing strategies

SAT Verbal

SAT Reading

• SAT Reading Section Test Directions:
  • Students are to answer questions based upon:
    • what is stated" in the text or graphs (explicit meanings, textual and direct comprehension)
    • what is "implied" in the text or graphs (implicit meanings, inference, deduction, identification of author purpose and techniques)
• SAT Reading Test Structure
  • Students have 65 minutes to answer 52 questions
  • Reading test has five readings with 10 or 11 questions each
    • = average 13:00 min per reading passage
    • note: two readings contain 11 questions so may take longer

Go to SAT Reading for more

SAT Writing

• SAT Writing Section Test Directions
  • students are to answer questions based upon:
    • revising text for effective expression of ideas
    • correcting grammatical errors, such as sentence structure, usage, or punctuation
    • interpret graphs and apply to text corrections
  • some questions will refer to an underlined portion of a passage
  • some questions will ask you to consider a portion of a passage or the passage as a whole
  • the correct answer “most effectively improves the quality of writing”
  • correct answers conform to “conventions of standard English”
• SAT Writing Test Structure
  • students have 35 min. to answer 44 questions
  • test has four readings passages with 11 questions each
    • = average of 8:45 min per passage

Go to SAT Writing for more

SAT Essay

• SAT Essay section cancelled as of June 2021
  • along with SAT subject tests
• SAT Essay provides valuable practice and skills for rhetorical analysis

Other Resources & Pages

• Grammar
• Parts of Speech