The College Board has recently released a look at its new and revised PSAT. Our tutors have taken a look and are here to report back on what the new SAT might look like. Keep in mind that the new SAT won’t be administered until the spring of 2016, and we’ll have to wait until June of this year for the College Board to release samples of its new SAT, so these are just our impressions and (educated) guesses.
The Math Section
Yes, there will be difficult math questions, and new math concepts, like trigonometry, may be tested. The sample PSAT contains two math sections: one short (during which a calculator is prohibited) and one long (in which a calculator may be used). It seems as though less math concepts are being tested, but that those concepts are being tested on a deeper level.
The Evidence-Based Reading and Writing Section
The Critical Reading section appears to be getting easier! The sample contains an hour-long critical reading section and a 35-minute error-identification and grammar improvement section. For students who hate learning vocabulary, the PSAT sample brings more good news: there are no sentence completion questions. The vocabulary on the PSAT sample is not difficult.
Also making the reading section easier is the fact that there are four answer choices instead of the usual five. And because the previously separate writing score will be factored into the new reading score (and writing is easier to improve upon), students will likely do better on this section than they do on the Critical Reading section of the current SAT alone.
The one drawback for the Evidence-Based Reading and Writing Section? It’s long! Students are going to need to focus—and stay focused.
That’s what we know so far. Stay tuned for our report on samples of the New SAT as they’re released.
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Additional Resources:
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