On Wednesday, March 18, at 7:00 p.m., there was a meeting at Pascack Hills High School about the upcoming changes to the ACT, PSAT, and SAT tests.

Emily Holland, spokesperson for Kaplan Test Prep, said, “The test hasn’t been changed since 2005. The college board [the creators of the SAT test] wanted to make a test that was fair for all students. Their big competitor, ACT, was becoming very popular, so the SAT creators wanted to make a test that will be just as popular, if not more.”

The New PSATs are mostly based on the ability to respond to pieces of evidence and reading comprehension. It will be updated to better correspond with the style of the New SATs. The New PSATs will be available to take in October 2015.

Robyn Roznitsky
The New SATs will include sections on reading, writing, and math, and the maximum score that can be achieved is 1600. The essay is optional and will be scored separately. The length of the exam has been shortened as well. In addition, the amount of Geometry and Trigonometry will be reduced, as Algebra will be the most prominent aspect of the math section. The New PSATs and SATs will not have any guessing penalties either.

A Pascack Hills parent said, “ I think that [the college board] has realized that a lot of students prefer ACT so the tests are becoming more like it. They may be losing students over the ACT.”

For more information, visit http://www.kaptest.com/sat/kaplan-sat-prep/sat-test-change.    

Robyn Roznitsky