New SAT: What will those questions look like?
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| Graphic shows difference between new and old SAT college entrance exam;; 2c x 4 inches; 96.3 mm x 101 mm. |
WASHINGTON
(AP) -- Calculate the foreign exchange rate a vacationing American would
pay in India.
Estimate from a random sample the number of 18- to
34-year olds who voted for a candidate. These are sample questions from
the newly redesigned SAT, which aims for more real-world applications
and analysis from students.
The College Board
released the sample test questions on Wednesday, offering clues to how
the revised college entrance exam, taken last year by 1.7 million
students, will look when it rolls out in 2016.
One
of the biggest changes is that relatively obscure vocabulary words such
as "punctilious" and "lachrymose" are unlikely to appear on the test.
Test takers will see words more likely to be used in classrooms or in
the workplace, like "synthesis."
Instead of a
wide range, the math section will concentrate on areas that "matter most
for college and career readiness and success," the College Board said.
The
essay section is becoming optional. And it now will require a student
to read a passage and explain how the author constructed an argument
instead of offering the student's own point of view on a specific issue.
Other
changes to the SAT, first announced by the College Board last month,
include making a computer-based version of the test an option, getting
rid of the extra penalty for wrong answers, limiting the use of
calculators to select sections and returning to a 1,600-point scale.
Another
expectation: Each 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.
To
highlight that, one sample question released was adapted from a 1974
speech by Rep. Barbara Jordan, D-Texas, 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.
In the sample question pertaining to
the U.S. traveler in India, the test taker must first determine what
foreign
exchange rate the traveler paid. Then, calculate charges on a
prepaid card compared to a Traveler card.
In
the sample question related to a political candidate, the test taker
must first determine from a table which age group had the greatest
number of people reporting they had voted. Then, compare the table to
another survey to determine which of four statements about voter turnout
is correct.
Cynthia Schmeiser, the College
Board's chief of assessment, told reporters that reasoning is still an
important component of the SAT, but it will be done in "applied
contexts." She said there will be commonalities between the redesigned
SAT and the Common Core standards being rolled out in most states, which
emphasize critical thinking in English and math in the K-12 setting.
"What
we're doing here is trying to distinguish the SAT in many important
ways from the current SAT and frankly from other admissions exams to
provide the why and the what are the fewer more important things that
students need in order to be ready for college and to succeed in
college," Schmeiser said.
The College Board said the sample questions are in draft form and subject to change.
"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," Schmeiser
and College Board President David Coleman said in a letter posted
online.
The SAT was last upgraded in 2005, when analogy questions were removed and the essay portion was added.
Once the predominant college admissions exam, the SAT 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.
