The SAT Reasoning Test
One part of the college entrance exam protocol for high school Juniors and Seniors - know what to expect on the part of the test that used to be referred to as Verbal section.
The SAT Reasoning Test is one part of a complicated array of college testing options. Knowing what to expect beforehand can prevent unnecessary test anxiety.
The SAT is the most widely known and publicized college entrance exam in the United States. And parents of today's high school juniors and seniors would be well-advised to study up on the changes in the SAT since they took it "back in the day." Today's SAT is divided into two categories: SAT Reasoning Test, and, SAT Subjects Tests. This article focuses on the SAT Reasoning Test.
The SAT Reasoning Test is the one parents are most familiar with. It assesses the critical thinking skills that the student will need to be successful in college. In addition, however, it also now includes a sixty minute two-part Writing Section consisting of a combination of multiple choice questions, 35 - minutes, and one short student written essay which asks students to develop a point of a view on an issue, using reasoning and evidence - based on their own experiences, readings, or observations - to support their ideas, 25 - minutes. The short essay measures students' ability to:
- Organize and express ideas clearly
- Develop and support the main idea
- Use appropriate word choice and sentence structure
Parents might remember the "Verbal" section of the SAT as including questions based on long passages of reading, sentence completion, and analogies. This section is now known as the Critical Reading Section and consists of three parts to be completed in a 70-minute period broken up into two 25-minute segments, and one 20-minute segment (analogies are no longer included in the test):
- Reading Comprehension - Long reading passages with related questions
- Sentence-completion questions
- Critical Reading - Short reading passages with related questions
The Mathematics section of the test includes both multiple choice and student-produced response questions that the student "bubbles in" on Scantron-styled grids. The time element if the math section mirrors the Critical Reading Section with a 70-minute time period, in which students are allowed to use a four-function scientific, or graphing calculator, broken down into two 25-minute segments and one 20 minute segment. Assessed are the following concepts:
- Numbers and operations
- Algebra and functions
- Geometry
- Statistics, probability, and data analysis
Last, but not least, there is an additional 25-minute unscored segment of the test in which future SAT questions are tried out. All questions in the unscored segment are multiple choice, and will not count toward or against students' scores. If you would like further information on the SAT Reasoning Test, check out. College Board.
