New content from third-year college preparatory math
Quantitative Comparisons eliminated The Verbal Section Changes
The first change to the Verbal section is its name.
On the new SAT, this section will be called Critical Reading.
Elimination of the analogy questions this section on the new exam will
consist entirely of critical reading questions that will test reading skills at
the sentence, paragraph, and passage level.
Addition of paragraph-length critical reasoning questions, to supplement the
existing question types of sentence completions and reading comprehension
passages. The topics of the given texts will represent a wide range of subjects,
including science, literature, humanities, and history.
The Math Section Changes
The Math section of the SAT will also change. Algebra II material will be tested
on the new exam in order to better align the SAT with the math curriculum being
taught in high school classrooms. The second change to the Math section is the
elimination of quantitative comparisons. The other two current math question
types, 5-choice multiple-choice and student-produced responses, will remain on
the exam.
The New Writing Section - Essay
The biggest change to the SAT will be the introduction of a new Writing section.
The Writing section will consist of two parts: an essay and a multiple-choice
section. Students will be given 25 minutes to respond to a prompt and construct
a well-organized essay that effectively addresses the task. The essay question
may require students to complete a statement, to react to a quote or an excerpt,
or to agree or disagree with a point of view. In any case, a good essay will
support the chosen position with specific reasons and examples from literature,
history, art, science, current affairs, or even a student's own experiences.
Essays will be scored based on the procedures for the current SAT II: Writing
Test. Essays will be graded by two independent readers on a scale of 1 - 6, and
their two scores will be combined to form an essay subscore that ranges from 2
to 12. Should the readers' scores vary by more than 2 points, a third reader
will score the essay. The readers will be high school teachers and college
professors who teach composition. To ensure that essays will be scored in a
timely manner, they will be scanned and made available to readers on the
Internet for grading purposes.
The New Writing Section - Multiple-Choice
The Writing section will also include multiple-choice grammar and usage
questions. Some of these questions will call upon students to improve given
sentences and paragraphs. Others will present students with sentences and
require them to identify mistakes in diction, grammar, sentence construction,
subject-verb agreement, proper word usage, and wordiness.
The highest possible score on the new Writing section will be 800. Scores on the
essay and multiple-choice section will be combined to produce a single score. A
writing subscore will also be assigned. The highest possible scores on the
Critical Reading and Math sections will remain 800 each, making 2400 a perfect
score on the new SAT.