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I heard from a couple of people that they were changing the SAT to make it include algebra 2 and a writing section and removing analogies. Is that true? I have to take it in junior year if I want to take the old one. Do you think I should take the old or new?

By Incognito (Incognito) on Sunday, June 29, 2003 - 03:31 pm: Edit

http://www.collegeboard.com/about/newsat/newsat.html


I suggest you wait to take the new one. Not only will you have more time, but it's a better indicator of how you'll do in college IMO. Also, I think that colleges would give more credence, so to speak, to the new test. I don't know how they'll look upon the older ones. Considering the fact that the new test has been accepted by both the ETS and Colleges all over the country with great enthusiasm and approval, I suggest that you consider taking the new one, and forgeting about the old. It's a better test in general, even though it will certainly be longer than the already extremely long SAT.

By Smac86 (Smac86) on Sunday, June 29, 2003 - 03:32 pm: Edit

Yeah- Its changing in 2005
Here's the link to the official New 2005 SAT website:
http://www.collegeboard.com/about/newsat/newsat.html

By Smac86 (Smac86) on Sunday, June 29, 2003 - 03:39 pm: Edit

Also- since its gonna be new and all, they don't expect exceptional results straight away... As incognito said, you should take the new one. Colleges will understand if you don't end up doing 'too' well in the new one.

By Curiousone (Curiousone) on Sunday, June 29, 2003 - 03:47 pm: Edit

Why not try to take both? Take it in January 2005 and then in say, May 2005 for the new one. You'll have both the new scores to compare.

BTW, they will be changing the PSAT for October 2004 to prepare you and will probably have lots of prep material available in time for the test; I think you should take both and send in whichever one you do better on.

By Savoirfaire87 (Savoirfaire87) on Sunday, June 29, 2003 - 03:59 pm: Edit

I've just finished my freshman year. In our HS, basically everyone takes the PSAT in 10th and 11th grade. If I do really well on that, I'll want to take the "old" SAT as well as the "new". I've been thinking about calling the colleges I'm interested in and asking them which score they prefer... perhaps some will want both? I'm not sure. I was going to take the SAT II in writing this fall, as I think I'd do rather well on it. However, I am debating this because of the new SAT.

I almost wish it wasn't changing. I absolutely LOVE analogies... I suppose I could take the Miller analogies test...

Has anyone seen any test prep yet for the "new" SAT?

By Crypto86 (Crypto86) on Sunday, June 29, 2003 - 09:41 pm: Edit

I can't disagree more with Incognito and Smac86. There are no prep books for the new one yet, and I am acquainted to taking the current one. Why would one subject him or herself to a harder test IMO?

By Apguy (Apguy) on Sunday, June 29, 2003 - 11:12 pm: Edit

>>Do you think I should take the old or new? <<

I would think colleges want you to take the new test. They certainly don't want to measure students based on an old test.

By Smac86 (Smac86) on Monday, June 30, 2003 - 01:53 am: Edit

>>I can't disagree more with Incognito and Smac86. There are no prep books for the new one yet, and I am acquainted to taking the current one. Why would one subject him or herself to a harder test IMO? <<

Thats because colleges will want the NEW one!!!! Why the hell are they changing it if they'll be looking at your old score! Not that I'm saying you shouldn't take the old one too, but the new one is an absolute must! It'll be harder, agreed. But, as I said, colleges are not expecting exceptional results in the veyr first year- also, they wont know what a good score should be. Hence, its worth the gamble

By Danhak (Danhak) on Tuesday, July 01, 2003 - 03:21 am: Edit

Please note the following points:

1) The curve on the first few administrations of the new SAT will in all likelihood be hella sweet. I don't think lower scores will be an issue. If you are on par with the rest of the nation's collegebound students on the old exam, you will probably be so on the new exam as well.

2) I don't think lack of review materials will be an issue. As far as the writing section goes, it has been said that the collegeboard is basically going to be adding most aspects of the writing SATII into the SATI, and will be phasing out the writing SATII exam. There is a plethora of review material available for the writing SATII. Also, call me crazy, but I find sentence completion and reading comprehension to be considerably easier to do well on than analogy questions.

By Xiggi (Xiggi) on Tuesday, July 01, 2003 - 01:53 pm: Edit

I agree with Danhak.

Just one thought. I think that the analogies will still be there but in a more subtle format. It is pretty easy to bury the testing of vocabulary in the sentence completion and reading comprehension. ETS is not about to let one of their favorite subject disappear without a fight.

The preparation for the "new" SAT will not change that much except for having to review the added material.

It wont be a revolution but a simple evolution.

By Savoirfaire87 (Savoirfaire87) on Tuesday, July 01, 2003 - 02:35 pm: Edit

Good point Xiggi! Many sentence completions are analogies in sentence form (wait a minute...DUH!!) I just like analogies since most people don't....haha.

By Apguy (Apguy) on Tuesday, July 01, 2003 - 03:14 pm: Edit

Yeah, prep material isn't going to be a problem. A plethora of new books are currently supposed to be in the works.

Kaplan, Barrons and the Princeton Review all make money off of SAT books and courses, if they don't make books they don't make money. They aren't going to stand idly by just losing business.

Kaplan will be one of the first to have a book for the new SAT, or so I've heard.

By Magicdragonfly (Magicdragonfly) on Tuesday, July 01, 2003 - 05:13 pm: Edit

I really think the new test is going to be easier..It would be for me anyway..and they are taking away the analogies..the analogies are just annoying..

By Xiggi (Xiggi) on Tuesday, July 01, 2003 - 06:14 pm: Edit

Wishful thinking, Magicdragonfly!

The prep wont change much but expect the test to be more difficult because:

1. It will be longer.
2. It will cover new material where ETS/CB will run wild with new tricky questions.
3. Most people do not like essay writing.
4. Everything that was there will still be there but in a new format.

Expect to see less and less 8th and 9th graders to do well on the SAT1 test.

By Savoirfaire87 (Savoirfaire87) on Tuesday, July 01, 2003 - 09:53 pm: Edit

IMO, it's definitely going to be more difficult...if only simply because the test format will be unfamiliar.

Hmmmm...I wonder if less kids will retake it sooo many times, considering the price is going up??

By Crypto86 (Crypto86) on Tuesday, July 01, 2003 - 10:14 pm: Edit

Alright, I was being a slacker - I admit it. The test is probably a better evaluation of intelligence for students. However, I won't be able to take it anyway (it starts March 2005 and I graduate June 2005 - so it will be too late for me anyways)

By Crypto86 (Crypto86) on Tuesday, July 01, 2003 - 10:14 pm: Edit

"Most people do not like essay writing"

Most people can't write good essays...

By Aoe2guy (Aoe2guy) on Wednesday, July 02, 2003 - 07:34 pm: Edit

I think its pretty obvious after all of these posts on this thread that, yes, in particular, the college board is changing the sat1 and adding another 1/2 hr to the already existing 3hrs-theres no point in reciting the new format, just go and check it out at their website. As for which one you should take, I'd suggest taking both as someone previously mentioned. For all the people who argue that the new one was applauded and welcomed by most colleges, and that it is a "better test to compare people," you cannot forget that the already existing SAT was made and followed for a number of years with effectiveness. In other words, don't forget that alot of people are NOT complaining about the old exam, and if they are, it is usually the analogies section - which i think involve more reasoning than vocb memorization and the QCs too. The new math section, i've heard from juniors who piloted the new exam as a sampler, is supposed to be "easier" in a sense. Remember, they are putting slightly more involved and harder algebraic topics inside, but that does not mean that their normal "trickyness" is going to be added to an already "hard" problem to make it super hard. If you look at already "hard" problems on a math sat1, it is not the alegebra but the reasoning. In other words, the addition of more math material is not going to be an addition of more abstract concepts plus hard material, just more material! I heard that the critical reading section, however, is much more challenging than the exisiting sat1 verbal...i think this is because people usually find the implication questions in passages the hardest part- and this is the main emphasis on the new exam! As a result, judge your psat scores and hopefully the new 10 real sats will be released so we can all see what this thing is about rather than playing our little guessing game.