There has been discussion of changing the SAT I and revising the PSAT. What are the changes and when are they scheduled to take place?
The College Board trustees voted to make major changes to the SAT college admission exam, adding higher level math questions, more reading passages, and for the first time an essay. The College Board plans to begin using the test in 2005, for the class entering college in 2006. The math test will cover Algebra II and the format of the questions will be revised. Quantitative comparison questions, which ask students to say which of the two mathematical equations or statements is larger, will be eliminated. The verbal test, renamed the critical reading test, will add short reading passages to the existing long passages. The analogies will be eliminated. The addition of the essay means a perfect score will be 2400 and the total testing time will be 3 1/2 hours long. The essay (writing portion) will last about 60 minutes and will include multiple choice questions about grammar-usage as well as a 25 minute essay. Two-thirds of the score on the new SAT I will be based on verbal skills. Time l
