Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 18, 1994 TAG: 9403180165
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Just ask college-bound students in any high school. They know about it - even if they don't know exactly how the test differs from the old SAT.
It has instilled fear in them.
Some are so worried they are flocking to bookstores to buy guides Ten tips for taking the test. B3 on test-taking strategies and preparing for the new test. They're buying computer and video programs to help them score higher.
And some are enrolling in coaching and preparatory courses to help them become more familiar with the examination.
Princeton Review and Stanley Kaplan, the two largest SAT coaching companies, report 50 percent increases in their courses in the past six months.
The new SAT will be given for the first time Saturday to thousands of high school students nationwide.
Colleges and universities use SAT scores to select students for admission.
Each year, more than a million high school students take the examination, which is administered by the College Board and Educational Testing Service.
The acronym remains the same: SAT, which for decades meant Scholastic Aptitude Test.
But the name itself is new: Scholastic Assessment Test. And it also will be known as the SAT I: Reasoning Test.
The name for the College Board's achievement examinations, which test students' mastery of specific subjects, has been changed to SAT II: Subject Test.
Unlike SAT I, the SAT II determines students' knowledge of subjects such as history, foreign languages and writing. The scores on these tests help students determine the best college for them and their placement in entry-level college courses.
The College Board says changes have been made in SAT I so it better reflects the type of work that the students will face in college.
The test sponsors say high school curriculums have changed in recent years, and the SAT had to change so it could continue to predict how students would do in college.
The College Board says the new test will do a better job of testing students' critical-thinking and problem-solving skills.
In Roanoke, a coaching course for the SAT is helping students become more familiar with the types of questions, and provides tips on how to prepare for it.
The course is taught in six four-hour sessions on Saturdays. It costs $30 for city students and $40 for students who live in other localities.
It is taught by Carol Tear, a math teacher at Patrick Henry High School, and Shirley Wingo, an English and Latin teacher at William Fleming. They have taught a similar preparatory course for a decade.
Because of changes in the SAT, however, they have spent more time than usual this year becoming familiar with the test and preparing to teach the course.
As part of the cost, each student receives a copy of the official guide to the new test, published by the College Entrance Examination Board.
The guide, which is the textbook for the preparatory course, contains more than 80 practice questions and one complete sample version of the new SAT.
On a recent Saturday morning, Tear and Wingo focused on the changes in the test. But they found themselves using some sample questions from the old guide, because they are more familiar with it.
Tear said the preparatory course and practice questions can reduce students' anxiety about the test.
"One nice thing about this course is that you can get all of your fears and bad feelings out, and then it's not as bad when you take the test," Tear said.
Wingo told the students not to waste time on questions they can't answer, because all questions have equal worth.
Some students have raised their score by 100 points after taking the course, Wingo said.
Several large test-coaching companies also have published books and videos to help students prepare for the new SAT. Some claim that some students have increased their scores 150 points or more.
Tear said preparatory courses can help students improve their score, but they won't replace a sound education. "Nothing will substitute for a good background in math and English," she said.
Jeremy Jones, a junior at William Fleming High, is taking the course because he wants to get into the University of Virginia to study archaeology. Jones figures he will need a high score to be admitted to Virginia.
Malia Yopp, also a junior at William Fleming, wants to study English and psychology at Mary Baldwin or Bridgewater College. She is taking the course because she wants to become more familiar with the new test before she takes it.
The content is basically the same as in the old one. It focuses on math and verbal skills. The test is still three hours long, and most of the questions are still multiple-choice.
But there are two significant changes - one in the verbal section and one in math.
In the verbal section, 25 questions on antonyms in the old SAT have been eliminated. More questions on sentence completions and long reading passages have been added. The reading sections will include questions on the meaning of words that appear in the passages.
The 30-minute test of standard written English also has been eliminated and replaced with 15 minutes each on the verbal and math sections.
The overall number of questions in the verbal section has been reduced from 85 to 78.
In the math section, a new type of question has been added. The "grid-in" question requires the students to figure out the answer and write it in the grid on the answer sheet.
There are 10 grid-in questions, but the overall number of questions in the math section remains 60. Multiple-choice and quantitative comparisons have been reduced from 60 to 50.
Students will be allowed to use calculators on the new SAT. While no question will require a calculator, the College Board recommends that students bring a calculator, especially for the grid-in questions.
Scores on the new SAT will be calculated the same way with the same range. The raw scores will be converted to the familiar scale of 200 to 800 for each section.
The average score is 420 on the verbal section and 470 on the math. The scores are combined for the overall figure.
by CNB