THE NEW SAT!!!: It is just “the SAT” for Connecticut Juniors

Many Connecticut students will be taking the SAT for the first time in March. This has been the case for the decade and a half that The Learning Consultants has been teaching test prep.

But it is THE NEW SAT and so parents are losing their minds.  i have taught long enough that I was immersed in learning the old SAT when it was the new SAT (circa 2005).  The changes then seemed radical.  Analogies were being removed, grammar was added as a multiple choice section as well as a graded essay to comprise the new Writing section, and the scoring was moving from the half-century old 1600 system to a 2400 system.

Certainly parents were confused and concerned back then.  The hysteria was nowhere near it is now.  I blame social media and the general tendency for most everyone to read shallow articles instead of talking to an expert to learn about something of consequence.

Here is some good news: I have been teaching the New SAT since last June when the College Board released its Official Guide. I taught last summer’s SAT class, last fall’s SAT class, and am finishing our winter test prep class.  Many of my SAT students who trained for the new SAT also prepared for the old SAT as it was still offered until last month.  The correlation between their old SAT scores and new PSAT scores (the PSAT is an abbreviated SAT but the test material is the same) was strikingly similar.

Why is the strong correlation of old SAT and new PSAT scores good news? Because the fact that the SAT is NEW should not add to your worries.  I knew this correlation would occur based on my last time teaching through the SAT transition and based on working with students in our summer and fall SAT classes.

As for juniors taking the SAT the first time, as several have said to me “what’s the big deal with the new SAT.  To us, it is just the SAT.”