NEW YORK — In the new SAT, analyzing a scatterplot chart on Florida manatees and citing evidence to back up answers will trump knowledge of arcane vocabulary.
Draft questions released Wednesday by the College Board, owner of the entrance exam, illustrate the scope of the test’s first redesign since 2005. The new model, which will be implemented in 2016, aims to show students’ mastery of concepts taught in high school rather than measure skills and words they might rarely or never use in real life.
The SAT, which has lost market share to competitor ACT, is repositioning itself as an achievement test, using “real-world applications” of math, reading and science to identify students ready for college.
In its initial unveiling of the overhaul last month, the College Board said the mandatory essay portion, added in 2005, will become optional, students will no longer be penalized for wrong answers and scoring will return to a scale of 1,600 from 2,400.
“This will be the first admission exam that requires students to cite evidence in support of their understanding of texts in both reading and writing,” College Board President David Coleman and Chief of Assessment Cynthia Schmeiser wrote in a letter accompanying the examples Wednesday.
Every question will go through “extensive reviews and pretesting” to assure clarity and fairness, they said. Coleman acknowledged last month that students and their families are skeptical that the SAT and ACT reflect their best work.
Under the reading portion of the new test, students will be asked to analyze “relevant” words in context. One criticism of the current and previous tests has been the use of esoteric vocabulary that a typical 17-year-old test-taker wouldn’t use and acquired only through rote memorization.
Sample questions from practice tests on the New York-based College Board’s website list word choices including “sagacious,” “trenchant” and “raconteur.”
The math section will measure problem solving and data analysis, including use of ratios, percentages and proportional reasoning.
The test will also promote what it calls founding documents, texts relevant to U.S. history or to “global conversations,” such as a 1974 speech by Congresswoman Barbara Jordan, delivered during impeachment hearings against President Richard Nixon, or President Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address.
“The (College Board) is making a genuine effort to improve the test in the sense of making it more relevant to college work,” said Robert Sternberg, a psychologist and professor at Cornell University who has studied entrance exams. “To the extent that one wishes to predict freshman-year grades, it probably won’t make much difference because the SAT, ACT and all similar tests are really largely tests of general intelligence.”
Last year, for the first time, the SAT lost ground to ACT Inc., in the number of test takers. ACT, based in Iowa City, Iowa, reported 1.8 million students in the class of 2013 took the test, an 8 percent increase from the previous year, and topping the 1.66 million students who took the SAT.
The ACT already has an optional essay and doesn’t penalize for guessing.
