New SAT gets mixed reviews

New SAT covers more than what students learn in high school.

By: Melissa Hayes
   The tests have been taken and the results are in.
   Despite a new format, students say they had to go above and beyond what they’d learned in high school if they wanted to do well on the SAT.
   The College Board released a new SAT in March that eliminated analogies and required students to write an essay in 25 minutes. At the same time, the College Board did away with the optional SAT II writing test.
   According to the College Board’s Web site, www.collegeboard.com, the test was changed to better reflect what students are learning in high school and to incorporate writing, an important skill for college.
   The test now lasts almost four hours and consists of three parts — math, critical reasoning and writing — with 800 possible points for each section. A perfect score is 2,400.
   In the past, the test ran for 2½ hours, and included two parts with 1,600 points needed for a perfect score.
   Several South Brunswick High School juniors, most of whom have taken the old and new exam format, say they still have to go out of their way to study and do well on the standardized test because questions on the test are not always covered in the classroom.
   Evan Foxman, a 16-year-old who has taken two prep courses, called himself an average student. Evan, like most other juniors, is in algebra II, which is supposed to be the highest level of math on the test.
   "I had no idea what some of the answers were," he said.
   Evan said he felt the math section varied in difficulty because it was geared toward average and advanced students. He said he saw problems he had never seen before.
   However, not everyone thought the math was difficult.
   Manisha Kumar, 16, who is in pre-calculus, said she was a "math person" and was upset to see so much critical reading on the test.
   Dan Fasanello, 16, also in pre-calculus, said the math sections were much easier for him.
   The students said the section that differed the most from their studies was vocabulary. Evan said a majority of the questions on the test asked students to fill in the blanks in sentences with vocabulary words provided in multiple choice answers.
   Danielle Veverka, 16, also took the prep course and said it’s a good thing she did, because the vocabulary words on the exam were very advanced.
   "For most of the words you have to go above and beyond to know what they actually mean," she said.
   Lorna Adu-Gyamfi, 17, who said math was the most difficult part of the test, said she felt the vocabulary was something students just pick up along the way.
   "English you can’t really study," she said. "The English is stuff you know."
   Britnee McMillian, 17, said she didn’t take the old test because she was afraid of the analogies. She was glad to see them go.
   Laureen Cowley, 16, an honors English student, said the test wasn’t what she expected.
   "I didn’t do as well as I thought I would on the English. It was a lot harder than I thought it would be," she said.
   The essay was also something students were not happy to see. While students see the addition of an essay as something else to dread, teachers see it as a way to prepare students for college-level writing.
   The essay asks students to read a prompt followed by a supportive quote and write five persuasive paragraphs defending or arguing the prompt.
   Students who took the exam said the 25-minute time limit isn’t enough for them to complete the section.
   The essay topics from the March test date are posted on the College Board’s Web site. Prompt 1 presents students with an adaptation from James A. Reed’s "Majority Rule."
   "We must seriously question the idea of majority rule. The majority grinned and jeered when Columbus said the world was round. The majority threw him into a dungeon for his discoveries. Where is the logic in the notion that the opinion held by a majority of people should have the power to influence our decisions?"
   The students were then asked if the opinion of the majority is a poor guide and were asked to support their stance in an essay.
   Manisha said she took a few minutes to develop an outline before writing, even though there wasn’t any space provided to do so.
   "I had written four solid paragraphs and saw time was called. I rushed to finish and it got weak at the end," she said.
   Lauren Ellis, 16, said there wasn’t enough time to plan out the essay and the lack of space to jot down an outline didn’t help.
   "It’s so easy to answer, but you make it hard for yourself," she said.
   Never having to write timed essays before, Dan said it was difficult to complete the writing and critical reasoning sections in the time given.
   "You get as much time as you want in school," he said.
   The students’ teacher thinks the timed writing is beneficial to the students.
   Doris Bacon, or "Webster" as her students call her because they have yet to find a word she can’t define, is an English teacher at the high school. She has been teaching the prep course for the verbal half of the exam for more than 10 years.
   She gives students 200 vocabulary words to memorize and her students are quick to complain about how often she quizzes them.
   With the addition of the essay she has also added timed writing to her curriculum.
   Ms. Bacon, unlike several of her students, likes the added essay, but she too misses the analogies.
   She said the essay helps students improve their writing skills and teaches them to write concisely in a short amount of time. She said time management is an important lesson for students to learn before going to college.
   She said it also teaches students to pull from life experiences and past texts to build an argument.
   Ms. Bacon also likes the editing portion of the exam. It’s a multiple-choice section that asks students to identify sentence errors, improve sentences and improve paragraphs.
   She said it forces teachers and students to readdress grammar in high school, and even middle school.
   "I think that we’ll see improvement in writing because of it in a short period of time," she said.
   Whether or not the students like the test, they all think there is too much emphasis placed on it.
   "There is way too much pressure put on the test. That makes it so much harder," Lauren said.
   Stephanie Negrotti, 16, said she is frustrated by the process.
   "I don’t think it should really determine if you go to college," she said.
   Catherine Dawson, 16, said she understood that some schools may grade differently than others and said there is a need for a standardized grading system. However, Catherine said what she has studied in school isn’t necessarily relevant on the test.
   Evan said taking the test can be depressing.
   "It makes you feel like all your work was worthless," Evan said.