The New SAT 2016

Seaford High School will be administering the New SAT on April 12, 2016. Please read the information below to
familiarize yourself with the changes and contact your childs math/english teacher with any questions. Thank you.

Math
The new SAT Math Test will test certain topics in math as well as your ability to use reasoning and critical thinking
to solve real-world problems. These concepts and skills provide the foundations for the math you will learn in college
and use in everyday life. The SAT groups these concepts into four major areas that you will see on the Math Test:
Heart of Algebra, Problem Solving and Data Analysis, Passport to Advanced Math, and Additional Topics in Math.

Format of Math Exam

The SAT Math Test includes two sections and a total of 58 questions. In the first math section calculators are not
permitted, there are a total of 20 questions and you have 25 minutes to complete the no-calculator section. Here is a
summary of the two sections:
Section

Number of Questions

Amount of Time

Amount of Time Per Question

No-Calculator Section

20 questions

25 minutes

1.25 minutes

Calculator Section

38 questions

55 minutes

1.45 minutes

Topics
There are four main content areas covered by the Math Test. Here is a breakdown of the topics and number of
questions in each content area:
Calculator
Questions

No-Calculator
Questions

Fundamental concepts in algebra involving linear

equations and inequalities

11

Problem Solving and

Data Analysis

Interpreting qualitative and quantitative data,

analyzing relationships

17

Passport to Advanced
Math

More advanced concepts in algebra, including

quadratic and higher-order equations

Additional Topics in
Math

Geometry, trigonometry, complex numbers

Content Area

Topics Covered

Heart of Algebra

Questions
Both sections on the Math Test will have two types of questions: multiple choice questions and student-produced
responses. In total, you will see 45 multiple choice questions and 13 student-produced responses on the Math Test.
Each section will start with the multiple choice questions, then progress to the student-produced responses. Within
each section, the multiple choice questions will be ordered by difficulty, and so will the student-produced responses.
For example, in the Calculator Section, you will see 30 multiple choice questions ordered from easy to difficult, then
8 student-produced responses ordered from easy to difficult. The No-Calculator Section has 15 multiple choice
questions and 5 student-produced responses.

Evidence-Based Reading Test

The New SAT Reading Test lasts 65 minutes and is comprised of 4 individual passages and 1 pair of passages. This
pair will be made up of two shorter, related passages by different authors that address a similar topic or theme. Each
passage or pair will be between 500 and 750 words, for a total of 3250 words overall.
Each passage will have 10 or 11 questions, for a total of 52 questions for the entire section. In every SAT Reading Test
there will be 2 passages which are accompanied by graphics, and 1 or 2 graphics for each of those two passages. You
will be asked a couple of questions about these graphics and how they relate to the passage. The New SAT does not
feature any sentence-completion questions previously used in the SAT.

Passages
The passages you will encounter may include informative passages, persuasive passages, and narrative passages. The
passages will contain all of the information needed to answer the questions on the test; you will never need to rely on
any of your own prior knowledge about the material.
All passages in the SAT Reading Test will come from previously published sources, and may represent a variety of
tones and styles. The chart below shows the specific breakdown of passage types that you will see in each Reading
Test.
Number of
Passages

Passage Type

Topics

Literature

Classic and contemporary literature from the United States and

around the world

History and Social

Studies

Both basic concepts and recent development in the social sciences

and humanities, including anthropology, communication studies,
economics, education, human geography, law, linguistics, political
science, psychology, and sociology

Founding
Document orGreat
Global
Conversation

Historically important, foundational texts from the United States

(Founding Documents, ie Bill of Rights), other historically and
culturally important works dealing with issues at the heart of civic
and political life (Great Global Conversation)

Science

Both basic concepts and recent developments in the natural sciences,

including Earth science, biology, chemistry, and physics

Questions
The questions associated with the passages will assess whether or not you understand information and ideas in the
text, and are able to analyze the authors use of persuasive language and argument. You will also be tested on
combining information from related pairs of passages, as well as from passages and their graphs.
The questions will be presented in a consistent order. However, they are not presented in order of difficulty. You will
first be asked more general questions about central ideas, themes, point of view, and the overall text structure. This
will be followed by more specific questions that may ask you for the meaning of a particular word or phrase, or to
find the specific evidence that supports a claim. Many of these questions will have line references, which will point
you to the material being discussed in the question.
Youll be asked a variety of questions for each passage, but the question types themselves will be repeated often. For
example, you may be asked about the text structure of more than one passage on your test. There are also two
question types that will appear with every passage. You will always be asked two Words in
Context (PDF) questions, and two Evidence (PDF) questions for each passage or pair of passages.

Writing Test
On the New SAT's Writing and Language Test, you will be asked to revise and edit text from a range of content
areas. Your job is to decide whether passages can be improved by making changes to the words, punctuation, or
sentence order.
The questions in this section will test your knowledge of grammar rules and of the elements of effective writing.
Parts of the passages will contain errors in grammar. You will be asked to correct errors in sentence structure, usage,
and punctuation. Other parts of the passages need to be revised to better express the ideas of the author. This will
involve improving the development and organization of the passage as well as correcting errors in language use.

Structure
The revised SAT Writing Test is made up of 4 passages and 44 multiple choice questions. You will have 35 minutes
to read the passages and answer the questions in this section. This means that you will have on average less than
nine minutes to read each passage and answer the 11 questions that follow.

The Passages

The Writing Test will ask you to read four passages and answer accompanying questions. These passages may be
similar to essays you have read in the classroom and are typically four to five paragraphs long. The topics of the
passages always include careers, social studies, the humanities, and science.

The career passages usually present new trends or debates in major fields of work, such as health care,
technology, or business.

Social studies passages discuss figures, movements, or events from history as well as topics in the social
sciences. These social science topics might be drawn from anthropology, psychology, sociology, or linguistics, as well
as economics, education, geography, law, or political science.

Humanities passages consider topics in the arts and letters, including figures and trends in fine art,
music, dance, poetry, and prose.

Science passages examine ideas, inventions, and discoveries in the natural sciences, which include earth
science, biology, chemistry, and physics.
The passages will be 400-450 words in length, broken up into paragraphs. At least one passage will also contain an
informational graphic. The graphic may be a table, graph, or chart that conveys information that is related to the
passage topic.

Essay
One of the biggest changes to the redesigned SAT is the essay, and specifically that the essay will now be
optional. This means that you can now choose whether or not you want to write the Essay based on whether the
schools you are applying to require it. In addition, your essay score will not enter into your final numerical score for
the SAT; instead, it will be reported separately.
During the essay portion of the SAT, you get to demonstrate your ability to comprehend source material, analyze an
argument, and write effectively. You can think of the Essay section as the part of the test where you get to write your
own answer.
You may already be familiar with essay prompts from the old SAT. The old SAT essay promptasked you to generate
your own argument and evidence in response to a fairly general and subjective question. The new SAT essay
prompt is very different. Here is a list of the changes made to the SAT essay prompt and what that means for your
own preparation:

New format: You now get twice as much time to write the Essay50 minutes instead of 25 minutes. You
also get twice as much space to write your essay, with four available answer pages. This allows you to write more as
well as have more time for revisions.

New prompt style: While the old SAT essay prompt asked you wide-reaching, subjective questions, the
new SAT essay prompt asks you to read and analyze a provided passage. The prompt itself is nearly the same on
every examit is the passage that varies from test to test.

Essay Scoring
While the old SAT was scored using a very general holistic rubric, the new SAT essay is evaluated based on three
specific criteria: Reading, Analysis, and Writing. Each of these criteria will be scored on a scale of 2-8 yielding a total
score range of 6-24. Below is a breakdown of what each of these criteria means and what the College Board expects
to see in your essay.

Reading: The College Board wants to see evidence in your essay that you read and understood the passage.
There is a very simple way to demonstrate this: quote the passage. The best way to prove that you understood all the
nuances of the passages is to use pieces of it effectively in your essay.

Analysis: The College Board wants to see that you can analyze the elements of someone elses argument
and use this analysis to craft an argument of your own. You can achieve this by coming up with interesting,
supportable claims and selecting strong, relevant evidence to support them.

Writing: The College Board wants to see evidence that you can not only come up with a good analysis, but
that you can also effectively convey it to your reader. The scorers are evaluating your ability to come up with a
coherent organization, use varied sentence structures, and employ good word choice and tone.

The New SAT Scoring System

The new SAT will have three test scores on a scale from 10 to 40. There will be one test score for each test: the
Reading Test, the Writing Test, and the Math Test. The Reading Test score and the Writing and Language Test score
will be added together and converted to a single area score in Evidence-Based Reading and Writing; there will also
be an area score in Math based on the Math Test Score.
The area scores will be on a scale from 200 to 800. Added together, they will form the composite score for the
whole test, on a scale from 400 to 1600. The Essay will be scored separately and will not affect your scores in other
areas.

SAT Scoring
SAT Scoring
Test Scores (10 to 40)

Reading Test
Writing Test
Math Test

Area Scores (200 to 800)

Evidenced-Based Reading and Writing

Math

Composite Score (400 to 1600)

Math (Area Score) + Evidenced-Based Reading

and Writing (Area Score)

Essay Scores (1 to 4)

Reading
Analysis
Writing

Cross-test Scores
The College Board will also be reporting new types of scores. Cross-test scores for Analysis in
Science and Analysis in History/Social Studies will be based on performance on specific questions across

different tests relating to specific types of content. For example, your cross-test score in Analysis in Science will be
based on your performance on questions relating to science passages on the Reading Test as well as questions using
scientific data on the Math Test. These scores will be on a scale from 10 to 40.

Subscores
There will also be seven subscores based on particular question types within each test section. Subscores will be
reported on a scale from 1 to 15. Four will be related to particular questions in the Reading and Writing Test: Words
in Context, Command of Evidence, Expression of Ideas, and Standard English Conventions. The other three relate to
specific types of questions on the Math Test: Heart of Algebra, Problem Solving and Data Analysis, and Passport to
Advanced Math.
The College Board has not released detailed information on how these scores will be calculated.

New SAT Resources by Link:

Sample Questions - https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/sample-questions
Practice Tests - https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/sat/practice/full-length-practice-tests
Inside the Test - https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/sat/inside-the-test
Scores - https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/sat/scores