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Get Scouted Scouting CareersThe big day is almost here.
In less than two weeks, hundreds of thousands of high school students (Classes of 2017 and 2018) will face the biggest challenge of their academic careers.
They will wake up early on a Saturday morning, (hopefully) eat a big breakfast and head to school for the sixth day that week to face the great unknown.
Yes, March 5 marks the arrival of the new SAT, a vastly different standardized test than the one that’s been offered since 2005.
Numerous changes have been made by the College Board — a huge nonprofit organization that develops and administers the SAT — to try to create an exam that more accurately measures student achievement and college readiness. The SAT and ACT are used by about 80 percent of U.S. colleges and universities in their admissions process.
To help students prepare for the new SAT and ease their fears, National Scouting Report, with information provided by the College Board, has compiled a list of the major differences between the new exam and the old one:
TOTAL TESTING TIME
Old: 3 hours, 45 minutes.
New: 3 hours, plus 50 minutes for Optional Essay.
FORMAT
Old: Pencil and paper only.
New: Pencil and paper or computer.
COMPONENTS
Old: Critical reading, Writing, Math, Mandatory Essay.
New: Evidence-Based Reading and Writing (Reading Test, Writing and Language Test), Math, Optional Essay.
READING CHANGES
Old: Memorizing vocabulary, sentence completion.
New: Evidence support, data reasoning.
WRITING CHANGES
Old: Individual sentences and grammatical rules.
New: Passage-based questions.
MATH CHANGES
Old: Geometry and shapes.
New: Data interpretation and graphs.
ESSAY CHANGES
Old: Required and given at the beginning of the SAT; 25 minutes to write; Tests writing skill (students take a position on a presented issue).
New: Optional and given at the end of the SAT (colleges and universities determine whether they will require it for admission); 50 minutes to write; Tests reading, analysis and writing skills (students produce a written analysis of a provided text source).
SCORING
Old: Scale ranging from 600 to 2400 (200 to 800 for Critical Reading, 200 to 800 for Math, 200-800 for Writing); Complex scoring system (one point for a correct answer, quarter-point deduction for an incorrect answer, no impact for blank responses).
New: Scale ranging from 400 to 1600 (200 to 800 for Evidence-Based Reading and Writing, 200 to 800 for Math; Scale ranging from 2 to 8 on each of three dimensions for Essay with results reported separately); Rights-only scoring system (no penalty for guessing).
SCORING COMPARISON
Old: Good score (75th percentile): 1720; Median score (average): 1500; Bad score (25th percentile): 1270.
New: Good score (75th percentile): 1150; Median score (average): 1000; Bad score (25th percentile): 850.
National Scouting Report is dedicated to finding scholarship opportunities for athletes who possess the talent, desire, and motivation to compete at the collegiate level. We’ve helped connect thousands of athletes with their perfect college.