Guidance Department

*Facts about the New SAT*

Hundreds of thousands of the nation's high school juniors gather in exam centers around the country to take the SAT®. Much has been written and said-both true and false-about how the SAT has changed. As a result, it is understandable that some students may be confused about what they will see on the test. Here is a review of the basic information to assist counselors as they work with students who will be taking the exam.

The SAT will consists of three sections: writing, critical reading, and math. Each section will be scored on the familiar 200-800 scale. The test will take 3 hours and 45 minutes, as opposed to the current 3 hours.

The writing section will include multiple-choice questions on grammar and usage and a 25-minute essay to be handwritten by the student in response to a specific prompt. The essay will count for 30 percent of the writing score; the multiple-choice questions will count for the remaining 70 percent. The essay prompts will be general enough to be comprehensible to all students, but specific enough to ensure that students can't write their essay ahead of time.

The critical reading section was formerly called the verbal section includes short and long reading passages. These reading passages also will test analogical reasoning.

In the math section topics include college-preparatory math, often referred to as Algebra II.

Additional information about the new SAT is available at the SAT website for high schools .

The new SAT Readiness Program (tm) is also a helpful resource.