Schools, students prep for revamped SAT

When students in North Idaho and across the nation take the Scholastic Aptitude Test this spring, they will face a revamped version of the college entrance exam.

The final “old” version of the SAT was administered nationwide Saturday, with the new version debuting in March.

Coeur d’Alene high school juniors — who will take the test April 12 — should welcome the new version of the test, Lake City High School English teacher Kirsten Pomerantz said.

“I’m really excited about it,” Pomerantz said. “Our curriculum that we work on every day lines up with this new version of the SAT.”

The new SAT will continue to test students on reading, writing and math, but will emphasize analysis more than memorization. Some of the obscure vocabulary words that left students memorizing flash cards for endless hours will vanish, said educators who have reviewed the new test.

Instead, more widely-known words used in classroom learning will appear on the test and students will have to demonstrate their ability to determine meaning in different contexts.

Pomerantz said for the previous version of the SAT — which was last updated in 2005 — Lake City teachers would distribute a list of 800 “SAT vocabularly words” that could be on the test.

While memorizing this list prepared students for the test, it had limited value in their classes. Many of these words were obscure and rarely-used, such as “lachrymose,” a formal literary term which means tearful or given to weeping.

The new test focuses less on the arcane vocabulary words and more on using real-world terms in sentences and paragraphs, Pomerantz said.

“It’s a lot less ‘can you memorize hundreds of words’ and a lot more how you use them, and how you understand them in context,” she added.

Officials with College Board, the nonprofit organization that owns the SAT, say the revamped exam is more representative of what students study in high school and the skills they need to succeed in college and afterward.

“Everything that’s in the redesigned SAT is knowledge and skills that kids are learning in classrooms every single day. It’s not left field,” said Cyndie Schmeiser, the College Board’s chief of assesssment. “No surprises. No mystery.”

Other significant changes include:

• More algebra and problem-solving on the math portion of the test, instead of testing a wide range of math concepts.

• Use of calculators will be limited. They will be allowed only on certain math questions, instead of on the entire math portion.

• Only four answers in the multiple-choice portion of the test, rather than five.

• No penalty for wrong answers.

• The essay portion will be optional; students who decide not to write an essay would see about 50 minutes shaved off the length of the four-hour test.

Regarding that last point, Pomerantz and other Coeur d’Alene teachers recommend students taking the SAT for the first time complete the essay.

“Some universities will want the essay, some will not — but as juniors, many of them don’t have their college search narrowed down, so it’s best to take the essay in case they need it,” Pomerantz said.

Mike Nelson, director of curriculum and assessment for the Coeur d’Alene School District, said the state requires high school students to take the SAT, ACT or Compass college entrance exam to graduate. The state entered into a contract with the College Board to cover the cost of students taking the SAT a few years ago.

“The SAT is pretty much the universal exam for college entrance requirements,” Nelson said.

Coeur d’Alene took the next step, he said, by providing students the chance to take the PSAT practice exam in the fall of their freshmen, sophomore and junior years. The PSAT administered this fall was aligned with the new version of the SAT.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.