SAT exam & exam prep overview

SAT Exam Prep

• Index of SAT Prep pages:category:SAT exam prep
• Index of SAT Verbal prep pages: category:SAT verbal
• Links to Verbal section pages:
  • SAT Reading section techniques, strategies & approaches
  • SAT Reading section historical timeline & themes
  • SAT Writing section techniques, strategies & approaches

SAT exam overview

• The SAT exam is owned by the College Board (CB)
  • we will use "CB" here, although the College Board does not refer to itself by the abbreviation)
• SAT
  • it is no longer an abbreviation (i.e., "S.A.T.")
    • it originally stood for "Scholastic Assessment Test"
    • in 1993 the CB re-branded the test to "SAT" unto itself and not as an abbreviation (i.e., dropping "Scholastic Assessment Test")
    • since the word "aptitude" means "innate ability", College Board was accused of racism, given different SAT score averages by race
• SAT tests are developed and administered by Educational Testing Service (ETS) under contract from CB
  • SAT accounts for 25% of ETS's 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

SAT & standardized college aptitude tests history

• achievement or admissions tests were used by 1870
• "College Entrance Examination Board," was formed in in 1899 by various colleges/ universities
• First "Scholastic Aptitude Test" exam administered 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 the "Scholastic Aptitude Test"
• subject tests were added in 1937 called "Scholarship Test"
• in 1993, the names for the tests were changed:
  • "Scholastic Aptitude Test" now the "SAT I: Reasoning Test"
  • "Scholarship Test" now the "SAT II: Subject Test"
  • the entire suite of tests was not called "Scholastic Assessment Tests"
  • the "SAT" was declared to stand for nothing (not an abbreviation)
• "SAT I" was dropped in 2004
• the "Reasoning Test" was dropped in 2016
• SAT digital test will launch
  • International SAT: Spring 2023
  • U.S. PSAT: Fall 2023
  • U.S. SAT: Spring 2024
  • see https://satsuite.collegeboard.org/digital/s
• sources:
  • https://www.erikthered.com/tutor/sat-act-history.html
  • SAT Changes Name But It Won't Score 1600 With Critics (Washington Post)

SAT exam format changes

2016 format 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

2021 change: essay & subject tests dropped

• 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

2023-24 change: shortened digital exam

• College Board announced in February of 2022
  • the SAT and related exams will be administered digitally starting with the International SAT test in 2023
  • the test will still be administered at a school or testing site
  • test will be taken on a laptop provided by CB at testing site
• Format changes
  • 2 hour exam (approx)
  • Reading section passages to be shortened and with a single question per each
    • likely a short paragraph as was in prior SAT formats
  • Calculators will be allowed on all math questions
  • the test will still score on 1600 point scale
• CB stated purpose
  • CB says scores and college reports will be quicker
• Likely purpose: cost savings
  • the digital format will save money for CB
  • the shorter exam will be easer
  • attempt to maintain relevancy for SAT
    • especially while many colleges (such as Univ. California system) are not requiring or even considering SAT scores
  • to complete with ACT
  • CB still struggles with racial deviations in average scores
• Rollout:
  • Spring 2023 the International SAT will be administered by computer
  • Fall 2023 the PSAT will be administered by computer
  • Spring 2024 the US SAT will be administered by computer
• see
  • https://satsuite.collegeboard.org/digital

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 college application requirements

• the University of California system stopped considering SAT and ACT tests for admissions
• many other colleges and universities also dropped the requirement but continue to consider it
• in March 2022, MIT announced that it would continue to require SAT/ ACT for admissions
  • We are reinstating our SAT/ACT requirement for future admissions cycles | MIT Admissions

SAT exam prep strategies

• "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