New Admission Tests: What to Take, and When to Take Them
So, you’ve seen the movie, The Perfect Score. You’ve read countless articles in Newsweek and USA Today about the new SAT and the new optional ACT writing test (and, even if you haven’t, your parents have, right?).
You know that it’s only a matter of time before you have to take these new tests, that they’re not the same tests your older siblings took. That there’s so much hype, so many questions, and so much news coverage that admission tests have become monstrous, the enemy, the barrier between you and your college of choice.
Before the stress overtakes you, however, zero in on the facts. Remind yourself that admission test scores are only one of many factors that influence college-admission decisions. And read on to learn more about the new tests; to find out when and if and what you should take; and to better prepare yourself for the next chapter of admission testing, and, well, your life.
New and Improved Tests: The Nuts and Bolts
SAT
In March of 2005, the College Board released and administered its new SAT. A new writing section is the chief component of the revised test-students will be asked to write an essay that requires them to take a position on an issue and use reasoning and examples to support their position. (The essay will be similar to the type of writing required for in-class college essay exams.) Multiple-choice questions will follow the essay and measure a student’s ability to identify sentence errors and improve sentences and paragraphs.
The new SAT math section will include topics from third-year college-preparatory math, such as exponential growth, absolute value, functional notation, and negative and fractional exponents (Algebra II). The quantitative comparisons on the current test will be eliminated.
And last, but certainly not least, the College Board has replaced the analogies section with a new critical reading section (currently known as the verbal section); this section will include short and long reading passages from a variety of texts. Though analogies will be eliminated, sentence-completion questions will remain.
The traditional perfect score will no longer be 1600, but 2400; and the new exam will have three sections instead of two, each scored on a 200-to-800 point scale.
The test will take three hours and 45 minutes to complete, including and un-scored 25-minute variable section.
ACT
Beginning in February of 2005, ACT will add a 30-minute Writing Test as an optional component to the ACT Assessment, for students testing within the U.S. who are applying to college for the fall of 2006 or later. The ACT Writing Test will complement the English Test.
“By offering the ACT Writing Test as an option, we are providing a flexible solution rather than imposing a single approach on all students and institutions,” Richard Ferguson, chief executive officer at ACT, said.
Colleges and universities will make their own decisions about whether to require the results from the ACT Writing Test for admission and/or course-placement purposes. Based on the requirements of the institutions they are considering, students can decided whether to take the Writing Test. According to ACT, students will not be required to take a test that they do not need to take, thus incurring unnecessary expense, and institutions will have the freedom to require the tests that best meet their information needs.
To find out what colleges require the writing portion, visit ACT’s Web site, at www.act.org/aap/writingpref/index.html.
Keep In Mind That It’s Only a Test
While it’s true that test scores are important, they’re not nearly as important as you may think. Different colleges use test scores differently, but no college makes admission decisions based solely on test scores.
Additionally, while knowing and understanding what the new tests entail may help you, there is no sure-fire way to guarantee that perfect score.
“It is my experience that students cannot prepare in one year or one semester for standardized tests,” Arlene Wesley Cash, vice president for enrollment management at Spelman College (GA), said. “It takes a lifetime of education, of learning how to write, learning how to analyze and think to do well. I still advise students to get a good night’s rest, have a big glass of O.J. and a bagel, and bring an extra pencil.”
Written by Julie Bogart.