STUDENTS GIVE REVISED SAT MIXED REVIEWS

Saturday, thousands of teenagers will wake up before 8 a.m. That alone is news to anyone who's spent time around teens on Saturday mornings.

These students, however, are getting up early so they can report to local testing centers at 8:15 a.m. to take the new Scholastic Aptitude Test, the dreaded college entrance exam.

The revised exam, first administered March 12, is radically different. A writing section, including a 25-minute essay, was added; analogies were eliminated; and the content of the reading comprehension and math sections has changed. Consequently, the exam now has 2400 potential points instead of 1600.

A few local students, including Fletcher Heisler and Kristin Valentine, both 17, have taken both tests and admit being wary as they prepared for the revised SAT.

"It seemed that what they were testing me over could be potentially more subjective material," said Fletcher, a junior at Park Tudor School. "It's a lot harder for someone to grade an essay than to grade multiple choice."

Both found that the exam was not as difficult as they expected.

"I thought it was going to be super-super long and really-really difficult," said Kristin, a senior at Tech High School and one of four senior class valedictorians. "But after you take it, you know, it's really not as bad as you thought."

Neither student was bothered by the changes in the math section. However, the essay and alterations to the verbal section affected them.

"To me, there seemed to be a lot less time to . . . reason with your reading," said Kristin. "You just have to be kind of a speed reader, glance over and be able to answer questions very well. So be very wise with your time."

For Fletcher, time became an issue when writing the essay.

"The essay was the hardest because you have to think so quickly on your feet," he explained. "You have 25 minutes to write a well-structured essay on a topic you've never seen before. However, they could've made it a lot trickier if they had wanted to."

Kristin agreed that the topic, which was on the fallibility of the majority, was easy.

"(The essay) was a fairly simple writing problem. They prepared you with everything you needed to know, a nice statement for you to respond to," she said.

Changes were made to the exam following the complaints of Richard Atkinson, president of the University of California system, who wanted it to be more achievement-oriented. The test, first administered in 1926, was designed to recruit boys from middle- and lower-class backgrounds to attend Ivy League colleges that had been traditionally dominated by students from Eastern boarding schools. It was believed the test measured pure intelligence regardless of the quality of one's secondary education.

The last major changes were made in 1994. Antonym questions were removed, reading passages were made longer, open-ended math questions were added, and calculators were permitted.

Those revisions had their roots in a 1990 Blue Ribbon Report, "Beyond Prediction," which also recommended omitting analogies and adding an essay.

Some speculate the test was changed only after the University of California, the largest customer of the College Board, threatened to stop requiring the SAT for admission.

But Carroll Davis, college counselor at North Central High School and an elected council member of the College Board, said it had been moving toward revising the test for years.

"The SAT, the College Board realized, needed to evolve to more accurately reflect an achievement-based perspective," she explained.

Both Fletcher and Kristin think the new SAT does not necessarily accomplish these goals.

"I think that the changes they made to the math section were appropriate, but I might rethink some of the vocabulary," said Fletcher. "It seemed to focus too much on memorization over English usage."

"There was not anything wrong with the old SAT," said Kristin, though she did better on the new one.

Their opinions differed on the extent to which the SAT reflects their skills as students.

"I think possibly the old SAT was more representative of the student's abilities because a 25-minute essay, that doesn't really replicate any sort of circumstances that a student would ever be under in the real world," Fletcher said. He scored a 2360 on the new exam and a 1580 on the old one.

"The fact that the new SAT was so long, it seems like an exercise in concentration rather than how much you knew."

Kristin believes both tests measure what you learn in the classroom rather than a student's actual intelligence.

"I'd have to say this last test (measured) my skills better only because I'm taking a lot more classes, better classes," said Kristin, who received a 1660 on the new SAT.

Some critics, including the anonymous writer of the Lexington column of the British magazine The Economist, believe the new exam does a disservice to children in disadvantaged rural or urban schools by testing skills -- such as essay writing -- that are emphasized in suburban classrooms. Fletcher and Kristin don't agree.

"I think that any student who can pay to have some sort of tutor or extra aide help them along is going to have an advantage on any sort of test," added Fletcher.

Added Kristin, "I go to an urban school, and there's no disadvantage to me or anyone else that I know.

"It just depends on the individual. If you're going to be the type of student who is interested in their schoolwork, involved and willing to dedicate time to improve your scores in school, then you'll probably do better on your SAT."

Davis agreed, but for different reasons.

"Urban high schools are recognizing the need to develop these important skills. Boys and Girls Clubs, 21st Century Scholars are taking on the responsibility of test preparation, giving students who are traditionally left out some access. The new SAT has brought this critical need into the limelight," she argued.

However, if the students were to create their own version of the test, it would be different.

"The new SAT seemed unbearably long," Fletcher said. "If they had some other way to separate the sections to make it easier on students to concentrate that long, that would be the biggest change I would hope for."

Kristin disagreed; she would include another essay to allow students to demonstrate the full range of their skills as writers.

"(Allow) more time on some of the sections," she said. "You usually don't finish with most of the sections or some students don't finish the section, especially their first time taking it, because they don't have enough time initially."

Fletcher, who hopes to attend Princeton University, and Kristin, who will attend Spelman College in the fall, have some advice for their peers.

"Take full practice tests," said Fletcher, who took the SAT multiple times. "I think the best preparation you can have is to simulate what you're going to be going through to the best of your ability."

"If I was taking it again, I would probably just take up some extra math, or spend some extra time with my math and definitely more English," Kristin said.

For the high school class of 2006, there is some good news as they prepare for the exam and wrap up their junior year.

"Colleges and universities will de-emphasize (the SAT) when it comes to scholarships this year because we don't know the reliability and predictability," Davis said. "Instead, they will emphasize transcripts."

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Take a sample cruise through the new Scholastic Aptitude Test

Essay

"We must seriously question the idea of majority rule. The majority grinned and jeered when Columbus said the world was round. The majority threw him into a dungeon for his discoveries. Where is the logic in the notion that the opinion held by a majority of people should have the power to influence our decisions?" -- Adapted from James A. Reed, "Majority Rule"

Assignment: Is the opinion of the majority -- in government or in any other circumstances -- a poor guide? 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.

Math section

A special lottery is to be held to select the student who will live in the only deluxe room in a dormitory. There are 100 seniors, 150 juniors and 200 sophomores who applied. Each senior's name is placed in the lottery 3 times; each junior's name, 2 times; and each sophomore's name, 1 time. What is the probability that a senior's name will be chosen?

A. 1/8

B. 2/9

C. 2/7

D. 3/8

E. 1/2

Answer: D. (Divide the total number of seniors' names in the drawing by the total number of names in the drawing.)

Source: Reprinted with permission from The College Board, a not-for-profit membership association whose mission is to connect students to college success and opportunity. Founded in 1900, the association is composed of more than 4,700 schools, colleges, universities and other educational organizations.