What to Expect from the New SAT
The format of the SAT has changed in many ways, both good and bad, depending on a given student’s strengths. Designed to prepare students for higher education, the standardized test has evolved greatly over its 90-year existence. Once again, students taking the test in March will be faced with a new format. We break down what has changed, what remains the same, and provide a brief overview of each section below:
What’s Changed?
In the past, each multiple choice question had five answers to select from, but the new test only features four answers. However, most questions will require more steps to reach an answer.
Additionally, students would not be penalized for skipping a question, but they would lose points for getting an answer wrong. On the new test, students will not be penalized for choosing the wrong answer. This makes it beneficial to randomly guess when unsure.
Reading passages now include complex vocabulary and require critical thinking skills. Some Reading passages also include scientific charts. This makes the new SAT a slight simulation of the ACT’s “Science Reasoning” section.
Perhaps the most interesting new feature of the revised SAT is the essay is no longer required. A longer essay, gauging a student’s evaluation of another’s argument, is now optional and given at the end of the multiple choice sections. What’s left of the old SAT “Writing” sections are multiple choice questions in the “Writing and Language” portion of the verbal. This mimics the “English” sections long utilized by the ACT. Students choosing to complete the essay now have an increased time of 50 minutes. Colleges will likely put less emphasis on writing scores if it is optional on the test, so students who lack strong writing skills should not sweat skipping it.
The math section is much more advanced and on one section calculator use is disallowed. Students will be asked to answer higher level math questions, including logarithms, higher level exponents, trigonometry and lengthy word problems.
Section 1: Reading
Reasoning and critical thinking will come into play in the new reading section, which include “double-down” questions, where students’ identify a certain detail in a passage, as well as the source of it. Scientific graphs will also be a part of one to four questions, challenging students to read between the lines. Vocabulary remains a part of the test, but the words will likely be more familiar to advanced students. Students whose vocabularies are not strong will need to expand their lexicons in order to land a 700+ score.
Section 2: Writing & Language
The biggest change to this section is the addition of grammar. Students who have taken the ACT will recognize the format of grammar found in the English section. Those who have not taken the ACT can consult the study materials Ivy Bound makes available to help prepare for this new section.
Section 3: Math With calculator
Examples of the more complex math problems that students will encounter on the test include logarithms, imaginary numbers, high level exponents, and complex functions. Students who have taken pre-calculus or calculus courses will be more familiar with these concepts.
Section 4: Math Without calculator
Students will be relieved to know that the math questions without a calculator are not more difficult, but simply different than the past. Topics are more algebraically driven and include pricing and rates, scatter plots, and slope.
Our Studying Tips to You:
The following ranges represent the number of hours in class or with a tutor that we recommend.
10 – 20 hours for Reading and Writing & Language
10 – 30 hours for Math
Students looking to maximize their prospects of admission to top tier universities should additionally consider:
3-5 tutoring hours for Essay prep
10-15 tutoring hours for ACT prep
*The times above does not include home study time. We generally recommend 1 hour of home study for each hour with a tutor, and 1.5 hours of home study for each hour in a class.
