The verbal section is now called the Critical Reading section. Gone
are those pesky (but, for some people, fun) analogies like: Soporific:
Interesting as Lucid:Vague. Instead, there are shorter reading passages in
addition to the longer passages. There are also sentence completions to test
vocabulary and knowledge of sentence structure. The Critical Reading Section
takes 70 minutes and is divided into two 25 minute sections and one 20 minute
section.
In the Math section, the SAT test makers have eliminated the
quantitative comparisons in favor of math from the college prep high school
curriculum; for the first time there are questions from Algebra II class
material. The math questions are in the form of multiple choice and student
produced answers. The skills tested are: exponential growth, absolute value,
functional notation, linear functions, manipulation of exponents, and properties
of tangent lines. You are permitted to use a calculator on the math section, but
all of the questions can be completed without a calculator. The math section
takes 70 minutes and is divided into two 25 minute sections and one 20 minute
section.
Most SAT takers were encouraged to take the SAT Writing Achievement
Test; in fact, while most achievement tests are optional, the majority of
good colleges required a Writing Achievement Test score as part of the
application. Now the SAT test makers have saved you the extra trip to the test
center but have lengthened the test by basically adding the Writing Achievement
Test to the end of the SAT. Since college work usually requires a substantial
amount of writing, the test makers and admissions people want to know that every
potential college student can organize his or her thoughts into a well
organized, concise essay. The Writing section includes grammar questions which
ask the student to identify the error in a sentence or a select a correctly
written sentence. The grammar section takes 35 minutes to complete, and the
student is asked to organize and to write a well-organized essay in 25. One hour
is allotted for the Writing section.
Basically, these changes were added because the SAT test makers and college
admissions staff want to be certain that potential college students are
well-prepared for college coursework and not simply skilled at taking tests.
This is the reason the new SAT focuses more on writing rather than on verbal
logic and on higher math. What this means for the SAT test taker is that quickie
preparation is a thing of the past; for an optimal score, a student should view
test preparation as long term skill building, beginning in the freshman year. An
athlete invests more than a month when he or she is training for a marathon.
Similarly, the SAT, a mental marathon, should be viewed as a contest of college
skills, not as a kind of IQ test.