What Every Parent Needs to Know About 2016 s SAT and ACT

Transcription

1 What Every Parent Needs to Know About 2016 s SAT and ACT

2 Admission Success We re helping Chyten students hear YES. Since 2005, our students have matriculated to the following top colleges and universities: Harvard 197 Boston College 243 Yale 45 Cornell 51 Dartmouth 54 Columbia 59 UPenn 85 MIT 54 Brown 72 Stanford 41 Thousands of other Chyten students have been accepted to additional top colleges and universities across the country, including Princeton, Carnegie-Mellon, Georgetown, Juilliard, Amherst, Wellesley, Williams, Babson, Northwestern, Northeastern, U Mass Amherst, Boston University, Johns Hopkins, U Chicago, UCLA, UVA, Duke, Middlebury, Colby, Pomona, Berkeley, and many more. 1 About 2016 s New SAT and ACT

3 Key Facts The January 2016 SAT marked the final offering of the national college-admission exam in its familiar format. Beginning with 2016's March test, the College Board implemented major structural and content changes that had been in the works for the previous few years. Reformatting of the SAT presents unique challenges and considerations for high school juniors applying to colleges next year. The College Board and private test-prep centers have worked to fill the information gap for students, parents, and educators. Still, many questions remain about the reformatting and about which exam is the best fit for students, especially this year and next. 2 About 2016 s SAT and ACT

4 Why Is the Change Happening? In an effort to make the SAT both more useful and more accessible, College Board President and CEO David Coleman says he was eager to create an exam that served as an accurate measure of student 1 achievement and college preparedness. The aim of these changes was to create a college-entrance exam that s better focused on academic skills and more connected to the work taking place in high-school classrooms across the country. As partners in student advocacy, we ve created this overview of 2016 SAT and ACT changes (and similarities) as an easily accessible resource for parents and students currently navigating the college admission journey. 1 Todd Balf, The Story Behind the SAT Overhaul. New York Times Magazine, March 2014: 3 About 2016 s SAT and ACT

5 How the SAT Changes in 2016 Structural Changes Scoring returns to a point scale comprised of a Math score and an Evidence-Based Reading and Writing score, each points. Fewer but more challenging questions emphasize the importance of reasoning, logic, and problem solving. Questions are blended to test a broader range of analytical and compound-subject skills. Answer choices for questions are reduced from five to four. The essay is now optional, analytical, and 50 minutes long. Incorrect answers no longer incur a guessing penalty. The Math section lasts 80 minutes. It contains a calculator section with 37 questions and a non-calculator section with 20 questions, as well as one Extended Reasoning question and 12 Grid-In or Student Produced Response questions. The Reading section lasts 65 minutes and contains 52 questions based on four single passages and one paired set of passages. The Writing and Language section lasts 35 minutes and contains four passages, each accompanied by 11 questions. 4 About 2016 s New SAT and ACT

6 SAT Changes in 2016 Continued Content Changes The redesigned SAT draws heavily on Common Core State Standards. The redesigned SAT focuses on more relevant, contextdependent vocabulary words. The redesigned SAT is cross-disciplinary; it contains questions that test reading, writing, and math across diverse subjects. At least one reading passage draws from U.S. founding documents and/or texts that reference the global conversation. Students require strong reading, grammar, and writing skills to master questions that are largely passage based. Questions feature content drawn from multiple areas that students are likely to encounter in colleges and careers. The Math section draws largely from Algebra and requires the use of algebra to solve or analyze real life problems. The Essay section asks students to read a passage and explain how the author builds an argument, then to analyze evidence, reasoning, and stylistic and persuasive elements. 5 About 2016 s SAT and ACT

7 A New ACT in 2016 Too The SAT isn t the only college-entrance exam to see changes this year. Revisions to the 2016 ACT are more subtle, including the availability of score-reporting categories and expanded offerings of the ACT online for participating schools. Touting innovation and continuous improvement in smaller measures, the ACT website provides this statement to counter the SAT s major redevelopment: We know the ACT has significant impact on people s lives. Because of this, we work hard to avoid unnecessary risks that might come with large-scale changes or total product reinvention. We conduct ongoing research to inform the content of the ACT, and we continually improve usability with the reporting, methods, and technology most needed and most requested by our clients. 2 2 ACT, Inc.: 6 About 2016 s SAT and ACT

8 Best-Fit Recommendations: The Answer: Both, and adapt from your results. Which Test for Which Students? The 2016 reformat of the SAT more closely aligns the two tests. Though marked differences remain, there are more similarities between the two exams now than ever before. The reality is that students are best set up for success when they have an opportunity to take each exam, and that s particularly true this year in light of the SAT s significant changes. More students every year choose to submit scores for both exams when applying to colleges. At Princeton, for example, nearly 31% of applicants in 2012 submitted SAT and ACT scores. 3 A trained test-prep instructor can help guide students in making this decision. Chyten s Recommendations Take both tests: real-conditions practices or the actual exams. Assess strengths and weaknesses. Focus prep on the exam best aligned to academic strengths. Because of the increasing similarities, many students are even choosing to go ahead and prepare for both exams this year beginning with a class or tutoring package for either the SAT or the ACT, then following up with tailored instruction for the other test in the weeks or months that follow. 7 3 Tamar Lewin, Testing, Testing. New York Times, August 2013: About 2016 s SAT and ACT

9 Consider Doubling Up on the SAT & ACT While the tests still have a few key differences, preparation for one college-entrance exam will now see greater overlap with preparation for the other. Students who choose to take both the SAT and the ACT will have a head start when it s time to prepare for the next test. Current SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing Reading: 65 minutes, 52 questions Language & Writing: 35 minutes, 44 questions Math With Calculator: 55 minutes, 38 questions Without Calculator: 25 minutes, 20 questions 4 single passages + 1 paired questions each Emphasis on reading comprehension, inferring ideas, identifying evidence and data reasoning Vocabulary is context-based 4 passages, 11 questions each Emphasis on understanding grammar rules, expressing ideas clearly, and connecting sentences logically Primary focus on algebra Tests ability to translate word problems (among other math skills) Science questions (included throughout exam) focus primarily on ability to read charts and graphs 3 hours Total Exam Time 2 hours, 55 minutes Optional (adds 50 minutes) Analytical Essay Optional (adds 40 minutes) None Guessing Penalty None 4 possible answers per question Answer Options 4 possible answers per question (5 for Math) Yes Exam Similarities Features Streamlined Exam Structure Reading Skills English, Language, and Writing Skills Math Skills Science Skills Computer-based exam (limited availability) Current ACT Reading: 35 minutes, 40 questions English: 45 minutes, 75 questions Math: 60 minutes, 60 questions Science: 35 minutes, 40 questions 4 passages (including potentially 1 paired) 10 questions each Emphasis on reading comprehension, inferring ideas and locating details Vocabulary is context-based 5 passages, 15 questions each Emphasis on understanding grammar rules, connecting sentences logically, and recognizing structure and argument Approximately 2/3 focus on pre-algebra and algebra Tests ability to translate word problems (among other math skills) Science section includes questions testing ability to read charts and graphs (among a wider range of skills) Yes

10 Chyten Student Solutions Chyten has helped Massachusetts families successfully navigate the testpreparation landscape for nearly three decades. We offer focused SAT and ACT prep classes, one-on-one tutoring customized to each student's unique academic needs, a la carte and cohort college admission services, and comprehensive packages ideal for guiding students through every step of the process, from PSAT score returns through matriculation to a top-choice school. Student Benefits Small class size for optimal personalized instruction. Proven proprietary strategies and exclusive program curriculum. Carefully designed practice guide, Mastering the SAT, created by industry expert Neil Chyten and updated for the newly reformatted 2016 exam. Customized one-on-one tutoring and expert college-admission packages. Diverse learning methods taught by a specialized instructor with a Master's or PhD. For more information on our expert SAT, ACT, and Subject Test prep classes; private tutoring; actual-conditions practice & comparison exams; academic enrichment; or our cohort college-admission packages: ChytenEnroll.com TEST 9 About 2016 s New SAT and ACT