Will students show what they know with new SAT?

The SAT exam is being redesigned to emphasize analysis, not just right answers. Changes will start in 2016.

It has always been reasonably easy to learn some testtaking strategies and significantly increase one’s SAT scores.

The ACT, in my opinion, is a more difficult test to improve scores by learning strategies. The SAT has always prided itself on being more of a reasoning test, while the ACT is a test that requires one to apply what one has learned. The ACT is a far better predictor of success in college than the SAT.

David Nelson

If the revised test can successfully make students demonstrate how they got the right answer (not just get the right answer), I’m all for it.

Hugh Marshall

It’s misleading for people to say the new SAT will be harder.

The new SAT is designed to reflect the concepts that are taught in school. The questions are also designed to reflect more commonly used language for the students, words in their vernacular, rather than highhanded and non-relevant vocabulary.

The essay is an option for the student to express ideas and creative thinking, which short answers do not reveal.

Janet Butler

As a teacher, I find it amazing what public education has come to. We are asked to challenge our students academically, but if we fail them, it’s the fault of the teachers and the school. It will be interesting to see how the students respond to the new SAT. If they struggle, I wonder if the test creators will dumb down the test just to show improvement in scores.

Mitchell Less

If you make the questions more involved or complicated, you get to the point where there can be more than one correct answer. The idea of “standardized” tests is so that subjective considerations of a judge or grader can be avoided.

David Patterson

Finally an organization with a spine. Raise the bar and challenge kids with harder tests.

Kevin Finlay We asked our followers for their views on the overhaul of the SAT exam. Change was long overdue. I hope this is better. The old SAT was a terrible way to measure preparedness.

@timshows No essay required, and impact of wrong answers is virtually removed? Why even give the test?

@TamiIRISHblonde Sounds like a step in the right direction, but what rubric would be used to score the logic behind the answers?

@oinoslogo There are too many individuals without life skills such as critical thinking; they memorized for tests only.

@marthalucas10 I love that idea, allowing students to express how they got their answers. It opens up personal logic.

@Gram_GoHam The test does not reflect one’s capacity for success in college. What a student does in school, clubs, grades, extracurricular activities, are strong attributes of success in school.

@jehuty88 The SATs have become obsolete. New criteria should be used for college admissions.

@BrentBrentl