Redesigned SAT

Yesterday I attended a professional development at the College Board that shared some additional insight into the redesigned SAT. I have a vested interest in this both because ElRo students will be taking this test in the future and because I myself will be taking this test in March.

Here are some of the things that I learned:

- All Critical Reading passages will come from real texts - nothing will be generated just for the exam. These will be real world examples of actual things a person could read outside of the SAT.

- The 'Command of Evidence' section will now featured paired questions. A paired question means that there will be one question the student answers and then the next question will refer to how they got their answer to the first question. In other words: explain why you selected the answer to question 1 for your response to question 2.

- The essay is now optional and will occur LAST (it used to be first). It will now be 50 minutes in length. The prompt is already out and online, the only thing that will vary from test to test is the source material. You will no longer be asked to defend your opinion. You will instead be asked to explain how the author of the source material makes their argument.

Here is the currently published prompt:

"As you read the passage below, consider how [the author] uses

• evidence, such as facts or examples, to support claims.
• reasoning to develop ideas and to connect claims and evidence.
• stylistic or persuasive elements, such as word choice or appeals to emotion, to add power to the ideas expressed.

Write an essay in which you explain how [the author] builds an argument to persuade [his/her] audience that [author’s claim]. In your essay, analyze how [the author] uses one or more of the features listed above (or features of your own choice) to strengthen the logic and persuasiveness of [his/her] argument. Be sure that your analysis focuses on the most relevant features of the passage. Your essay should not explain whether you agree with [the author’s] claims, but rather explain how the author builds an argument to persuade [his/her] audience."

-  There will be a much larger focus on Algebra on the redesigned test.

- There will be 'founding documents' included on the exam - historical documents that relate to core issues like liberty and freedom

- There will be no more points lost of wrong answers. Only points gained for correct answers. There will also only be 4 answers to choose from instead of 5.

- The redesigned PSAT from this fall is only going to be out of 760 for each section. This is because there is alignment between the exams and there is a small amount of content (about 40 points it would seem) that is on the SAT but not on the PSAT.

The redesigned SAT will be offered for the first time in March of 2016.

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