1. For students taking the test in 2016 7 CHANGES TO THE SAT COURTESY OF TTIME.COM

2.  Everyone can afford  Paid programs: Kaplan and Princeton Review  Partnership with Kahn Academy  Kahn Academy has exclusive partnership with College Board  Your PSAT’s scores will customize a review program for you  Link: 1. FREE TEST PREP

3.  You don’t have to waste your time figuring out if it is worth a guess. 2. WRONG ANSWERS = NO PENALTY

4.  The old essay = personal essay  New essay = constructed response  You will be asked to read a passage and then explain how the author is persuading the audience.  Essay question will be available BEFORE the test, but the reading passage WILL NOT  Example: Write an essay in which you explain how Dana Gioia builds an argument to persuade his audience that the decline of reading in America will have a negative effect on society. In your essay, analyze how Gioia uses one or more of the features listed in the box above (or features of your own choice) to strengthen the logic and persuasiveness of his argument. Be sure that your analysis focuses on the most relevant features of the passage. Your essay should not explain whether you agree with Gioia’s claims, but rather explain how Gioia builds an argument to persuade his audience. 3. NEW ESSAY

5.  The College Board provides helpful prep here: https://www.collegeboard.org/sites/default/files/essay_analyzi ng_a_source.pdf The new scoring scale: https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/sat/scores/essay ESSAY PREP

6.  Students will be asked a question about the text, and then asked which piece of evidence best supports their answer.  Be cautious: If you get the first question wrong, it may be difficult to get the second one right  For example: https://www.collegeboard.org/sites/default/files/command_of _evidence.pdf 4. EVIDENCE FOCUSED READING

7.  The old SAT asked you to know the definitions of words like raconteur, plaudit, finagle, collude and sagacious.  The new SAT asks you to define a word based on how it is used in a context.  For example, “intense” can mean concentrated, emotional, or determined depending on the context of the sentence.  For practice: https://www.collegeboard.org/sites/default/files/relevant_wor ds_in_context.pdf 5. OBSCURE VOCABULARY: GONE

8.  Students will be asked to infer information based on graphs and charts (this will be in your reading section).  Students will also be asked to revise sentences to make them consistent with the information presented in graphs and charts.  For example: https://www.collegeboard.org/sites/default/files/analysis_in_s cience_and_in_history_social_studies.pdf 6. MORE GRAPHS AND CHARTS

9.  You may see excerpts from: the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, as well as work by Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., Elizabeth Cady Stanton  The thought was to have texts that are more closely aligned to what you should be learning in school.  For example: https://www.collegeboard.org/sites/default/files/founding_doc uments_and_the_great_global_conversation.pdf 7. GRADE APPROPRIATE TEXTS