Is the SAT Fair? New Stats

Is the SAT Fair? By Gender the gap has closed, but men are still ahead.

How about Ethnic ID?

How About Income?

Some opinions suggest…. The SAT is a better prediction of race, income and gender than your ability to perform in college.

The SAT Focuses on College Success Skills Critical Reading Mathematics Writing The SAT ® tests students’ reasoning based on knowledge and skills developed through their course work.

Has the SAT Ever Changed Before? Yes, the SAT has changed several times since it was first administered in The SAT evolves to meet the changing needs of students, teachers, and colleges. The most recent changes were made in 1994.

SAT Format 3 hours 45 minutes 70 minutes Two 25-minute sections and one 20- minute section 70 minutes Two 25-minute sections and one 20- minute section 60 minutes 35-minute multiple choice (one 25-minute section and one 10-minute section) and one 25-minute essay 25 minutes Critical Reading Math Writing Variable Section

SAT Content Critical Reading Sentence Completion Critical Reading: Short and long reading passages Math Multiple-choice items and student-produced responses measuring: Number and Operations; Algebra I, II, and Functions; Geometry; and Statistics, Probability, and Data Analysis Writing Multiple-choice: Improving sentences and paragraphs and identifying errors Student-Written Essay: Effectively communicate a viewpoint, defining and supporting a position.

SAT Critical Reading Strengthens alignment with classroom practices Measures knowledge of genre, cause and effect, rhetorical devices, comparative arguments, and the ability to recognize relationships among parts of a text. Long and short reading passages are taken from different fields: o Natural sciences o Humanities o Social science o Literary fiction

The Critical Reading Section Example of new short paragraph reading items 1.The reference to the “two-year-old child” (line 4) primarily serves to (A) challenge a popular assumption (B) highlight the extent of the change (C) suggest that a perspective is simplistic (D) introduce a controversial idea (E) question a contemporary preoccupation Correct Answer: 2.The statement “Period” (line 6) primarily serves to emphasize the (A) authoritative nature of the finding (B) lack of flexibility in a popular theory (C) stubborn nature of a group of researchers (D) limited knowledge about a subject (E) refusal of the public to accept new discoveries Correct Answer: B D

Calculator Policy Every question on the new PSAT/NMST and the new SAT can be solved without a calculator; however using a calculator on some questions may be helpful to students. A scientific or graphing calculator will be recommended for the new tests.

SAT Writing Section Additional measure of an important college success skill Multiple-choice o 3 types of multiple-choice writing questions  Identifying Sentence Errors  Improving Sentences  Improving Paragraphs

SAT Writing Section Examples of Multiple-Choice Writing Items Identifying Sentence Errors: It is likely that the opening of the convention center, previously set for July 1, would be postponed because of the bricklayers’ strike. No error. (E) (A) (B) (C) (D) Correct answer C

SAT Writing Section Additional measure of an important college success skill will encourage writing in schools Short essay o Students will be given a prompt for a response o Students must first think critically about the issue presented in the essay assignment and then they must define and support their position, using reasoning and evidence based on their own experience, readings, or observations. o The essay will be similar to the type of on-demand writing that is typically done in college

Sample Essay Prompt Directions: Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below. The principle is this: each failure leads us closer to deeper knowledge, to greater creativity in understanding old data, to new lines of inquiry. Thomas Edison experienced 10,000 failures before he succeeded in perfecting the lightbulb. When a friend of his remarked that 10,000 failures was a lot, Edison replied, “I didn’t fail 10,000 times, I successfully eliminated 10,000 materials and combinations that didn’t work.” Miles Brand, “Taking the Measure of Your Success” Assignment: What is your view on the idea that it takes failure to achieve success? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.

How Will the Essays Be Scored? Readers will: Read the entire essay before scoring, and then score immediately. Read supportively, looking for and rewarding what is done well rather than what is done badly or omitted. Ignore the quality of handwriting. Not judge an essay by its length. Understand that grammar is not an overriding factor in determining an essay score. Understand that the essay is a first draft. Read quickly to gain an impression of the whole essay relative to a holistic scoring guide.

The Student-Written Essay Will Be Scored Accurately and Fairly If two readers’ scores differ by more than one point, the essay will be read by a third reader

How Students Can Prepare Students should: o Challenge themselves throughout high school by taking rigorous courses, including at least 3 years of math o Read and write as much as possible—both in and outside of school o Familiarize themselves with the SAT so they know what to expect on test day o Familiarize themselves with the different types of questions on the SAT, the directions for each type of question, and how the test is scored

In general… Know the order of difficulty Questions get harder as you go along Should you try to answer all hard questions? Knowing the order of difficulty can change your tactic. Easy Questions have easy answers

Joe Bloggs Joe Bloggs is the average student o He gets all the easy right o He gets some of the medium right and some wrong o He never gets the hard ones right-Pam does o Use Joe’s tactics on easy questions and sometimes on medium ones

Always use POE Process of Elimination o Try to eliminate 2-3 of the answers before answering o If you can’t what should you do?

Perfect Score Can you get a perfect score with answering all the questions?

Test Day What two things do you think you need to get in to the test center?

Vocab Study! Vocab is a staple of the SAT But you can decode words if you know their parts We will learn over a hundred roots, prefixes, suffices to help you decode words

VOCAB Quiz #1 Every Monday A, AN Eu Ben/Bon Ify Ate CACO Ante Post Ette Ous Can anyone think of a word that means NO FEELING?

ANSWERS & QUESTIONS Make 10 sentences that use words that have parts of the roots, prefixes, suffices in our new Vocab