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Last Updated: 03/18/2005
The Rockbridge Report is produced
under the supervision of the Dept. of Journalism and Mass Communications
at Washington and Lee University.
Reporting supervisors: Prof. Doug Cumming
Technical supervisor:
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Students take on the College Board's new SAT
By Leah Kershaw March 18, 2005 Anxious high school juniors jumped headfirst into the newly revised--and widely feared--SAT test on Saturday morning, March 12, at Rockbridge County High School. With a perfect score of 2400, the revised and expanded SAT test is 45 minutes longer and now includes a 25-minute student-written essay. English analogies and quantitative comparisons have been completely eliminated. More advanced math questions, additional critical reading and grammar exercises have been added. According the College Board, the Scholastic Assessment Test was revised “to better reflect what students are learning in high school.” The mandatory writing section is meant to allow colleges and universities to better evaluate the writing skills of applicants. Mary Beth Long, a junior at Greenbrier East High School in West Virginia, took the SAT at RCHS Saturday. Long said she thinks that she will do better on the revised SAT because she has strong English skills. As for the essay, “it could hurt people who don’t understand the question,” said Long. With only 25 minutes to write the essay, “I couldn’t do it the best that I normally could because it was hard to get my thoughts together.” Jaclyn Stockwell, a junior at RCHS, agrees with Long. “It was hard and really long,” she said. “I wasn’t prepared for the essay and didn’t know anything about the essay topic.” According to Stockwell, the topic was majority rule. At RCHS, English teachers made an effort to prepare students for the revised SAT during class time, said Sarah Blackburn, a guidance counselor at RCHS. Teachers provided students with sample writing prompts to practice, said Blackburn. The traditional SAT prep class was also offered six weeks prior to the test date, said Blackburn. She also said that Susan Ditman, a tutor at RCHS, teaches the class once a week. Blackburn said the College Board, which produces the SAT, did a good job of dispersing information about the revised SAT to school administrators. In addition to providing written literature, the College Board also offered on-line workshops to teachers and administrators, said Blackburn. Blackburn said “the jury is still out” on the revised SAT. “I can see the benefits of the writing sample,” said Blackburn. The goal of the essay is not to measure the students’ knowledge of a topic, but rather for the student to critically defend a position, said Blackburn. However, she said that not all students will benefit from the additional writing emphasis. As for the additional advanced math questions, Blackburn said, “Most of the kids who take the SAT’s at RCHS are taking advanced math classes anyway.” |
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