SAT unveils new test and it's shorter, doesn't have as many vocabulary words and no longer penalizes for wrong answers
Revamped SAT will be unveiled in 2016 and will revert back to the old 1,600 point system by making the essay section optional
Cutting the third section will make the test only last 3 hours and not 3:45
Obscure vocabulary words being traded in for 'high utility' words
Students will be able to chose whether or not they want to take it on a computer but will have fewer sections where they can use a calculator
By Meghan Keneally and Associated Press
The SAT has been redesigned to make it easier for students by cutting down the length, making the essay section optional, reverting back to a 1,600-point system and axing obscure vocabulary words.
Words like obsequious, enervation, punctilious, propinquity, and lachrymose will no longer be included on the college entrance exam but are being substituted in by 'high utility' words like 'intense'.
Sample questions for the new version of the college-entrance test were released on Wednesday by the College Board, which announced last month that the new test will include real-world applications and require more analysis.
Students will also be asked to cite evidence to show their understanding of texts.
The new form of the test is due out in 2016 and is expected to include reading passage provided as an example was adapted from a speech delivered in 1974 during the impeachment hearings of President Richard Nixon. Test takers must answer questions that best describe Jordan's stance and the main rhetorical effect of a part of the passage.
Other sample questions asks test takers to calculate what it would cost an American traveling in India to convert dollars to rupees, or use the findings of a political survey to answer questions.
Every test will include a passage from the U.S. founding documents, such as the Declaration of Independence, or conversations they've inspired, the College Board has said.
The College Board said obscure vocabulary words would be replaced with those more likely to be used in classrooms or on the job, and the math section will concentrate on areas that 'matter most for college and career readiness and success.'
At the same time, the essay section is becoming optional and will require students to read a passage and explain how the author constructed an argument. For those who decide not to write the essay, the test will last 3 hours for the two classic sections- critical reading and math- and those who decide to go for the third section will be granted an additional 50 minutes to do so.
The test will be returning to the 1,600 point scale as opposed to the 2,400 scale that was used when the essay portion was added.
Another longstanding factor that is being removed in the new version, which will affect the students hoping to be in the college graduating classes of 2020 and 2021, is that the penalty that is normally placed on wrong answers will be removed entirely.
‘The redesigned SAT is an achievement test,’ College Board chief of assessment Cynthia Schmeiser said.
Test makers are hoping to tone-down student’s reliance on machines by limiting the use of calculators while giving students the option to take a computer-based version of the test.
'It is our goal that every student who takes the test will be well informed and will know exactly what to expect on the day of the test,' College Board President David Coleman and Schmeiser wrote in a letter posted online.
The SAT was once the predominant college admissions exam, but it has been overtaken in popularity by the ACT.
The ACT, which already offers an optional essay, announced last year that it would begin making computer-based testing available.
It said Monday that about 4,000 high school students had taken a digital version of the ACT two days earlier as part of a pilot.
Read the rest here:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2606020/SAT-unveils-new-test-shorter-doesnt-vocabulary-words-no-longer-penalizes-wrong-answers.html
No comments:
Post a Comment