What’s New in the SAT an eTutorWorld Handy Guide

SAT will be now conducted in a new format. It has been revised majorly for the first time in thirty years and is stated to be effectively conducted in revised format from March 2016. As is well known, SAT is one of the most important exams and in the light of its importance, nuanced changes have been made. That is to say that the changes are not drastic but well thought of little interventions. The changes have been incorporated to make way for testing real life ability to handle situations and face crisis.

The SAT is taken by thousands of students the world over to test their reading, writing, and math skills.Here are listed some changes in SAT to be effective from next month onwards:

SAT Writing:

1. The essay which was given at the beginning is now at the end of the paper.
2. The time limit has been increased from 25 to 50 minutes.
3. The change in status of the essay from compulsory to optional opens up the choice for institutions wanting the essay or not. That is determined by the institutions at a later stage.
4. Essay results will now also be reported separately.

SAT Reading: (Reading is central to the SATs)

1. There is now added emphasis on the same.
2. There is evidence based reading and writing.
3. Vocabulary becomes more important with added emphasis on not only the meanings but the tone and the impact of the word.
4. Multiple definitions of the word will be needed, so one might be familiar with the given words but the level of understanding needs to be broader and the student hence broader.
5. There is also a passage that is presented and the students need to analyze the situation. This is again to test real life skills of students to test both their reading ability and to probably check whether they can think on their feet.

SAT Math and Reasoning: (This has changed the least)

1. The number of steps needed to solve a problem need to be exhibited in some places, so these are multi-step problems.
2. Trigonometry is on the plate now, but the quantity is less.
3. In a logistical sense, a section apparently has calculators banned.
4. There is an emphasis on reasoning so that the problems are in sync with the real world. This is to test the student’s response in real situations.

SAT Overall:

1. There will be no penalty for wrong answers. No negative marking is a huge change because it takes the pressure off the students; this is a good change from the deduction point for an incorrect answer (found in the earlier pattern). Gives a chance for students to score better without having to be worried about lowering their scores due to incorrect responses.
2. And speaking of scores, the overall score reporting which ranged from 600 to 2400 will range from 400 to 1600.
3. There will be four answer choices instead of five.
4. Leaving a blank similarly will have no impact (this continues to be the same).
5. Also, overall as stated above for the essay, the scores will be available separately. This is of course a brilliant move because it makes so much more sense for a student to check their scores and know exactly where how they fared. The same benefit is received by those testing the students. They will  know clearly the strong areas of the candidates.

Make the most of your time and enroll for an SAT prep program. Start today by taking a FREE SAT online tutoring lesson at eTutorWorld.

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