About SAT Testing
The SAT is usually taken by high school juniors and seniors and is used by most U.S. colleges and universities to help decide admissions. The test is three hours long and contains seven multiple-choice sections, including three Verbal, three Math, and one Experimental (the Experimental does not count toward your score). Both the Math and Verbal sections are scored on a scale of 200 to 800, so the highest total score a student could receive is 1600. The SAT is offered seven times during the academic school year, from October through June.
The New SAT
A new SAT is coming soon, and it will put greater emphasis on the importance of writing. An entirely new Writing section will be added, which will include multiple-choice questions on grammar as well as a student-written essay. The current Verbal section will be renamed Critical Reading and will get a makeover; analogies will be eliminated and short reading passages will be added to the existing longer passages. The Math section will be expanded to include topics from third-year college math, and the quantitative comparisons will be removed.
Students graduating in 2005 will not be affected by the change as they will not have the option of taking the new test and will only take the existing one. The class of 2006 will have the choice between the existing test, the new test, or both. The class of 2007 will be the first class to have the new test as their only option.
Practice and Subject Tests
Taking the PSAT, a shorter, preliminary version of the SAT, is an invaluable way to prepare for taking the SAT. The PSAT offers students a chance to practice taking the SAT without the risk. Scores on the PSAT may also help determine the need for formal test preparation. The PSAT lasts two hours and includes two 25-minute verbal sections, two 25-minute math sections, and one 30-minute writing section.
In addition to the SAT, colleges may also require one or more of the twenty-two SAT II Subject Tests. These tests range from Literature to Chemistry to German, and most students take them either at the end of their junior year or the beginning of their senior year.
