XPost: ba.politics, dc.media, soc.penpals   
   XPost: alt.burningman   
   From: jasonc2@neverumind.org   
      
   Another Obama solution.  Keep them ignorant, dependent and   
   voting dumbocrat.   
      
   WASHINGTON -- Essay optional. No penalties for wrong answers.   
   The SAT college entrance exam is undergoing sweeping revisions.   
      
   Changes in the annual test that millions of students take will   
   also do away with some vocabulary words such as "prevaricator"   
   and "sagacious" in favor of words more commonly used in school   
   and on the job.   
      
   College Board officials said Wednesday the update -- the first   
   since 2005 -- is needed to make the exam more representative of   
   what students study in high school and the skills they need to   
   succeed in college and afterward. The test should offer "worthy   
   challenges, not artificial obstacles," said College Board   
   President David Coleman at an event in Austin, Texas.   
      
   The new exam will be rolled out in 2016, so this year's ninth   
   graders will be the first to take it, in their junior year. The   
   new SAT will continue to test reading, writing and math skills,   
   with an emphasis on analysis. Scoring will return to a 1,600-   
   point scale last used in 2004, with a separate score for the   
   optional essay.   
      
   For the first time, students will have the option of taking the   
   test on computers.   
      
   Once the predominant college admissions exam, the SAT in recent   
   years has been overtaken in popularity by the competing ACT,   
   which has long been considered more curriculum based. The ACT   
   offers an optional essay and announced last year it would begin   
   making computer-based testing available in 2015.   
      
   One of the biggest changes in the SAT is that the extra penalty   
   for wrong answers, which discouraged guessing, will be   
   eliminated. And some vocabulary words will be replaced with   
   words such as "synthesis" and "empirical" that are used more   
   widely in classrooms and in work settings.   
      
   Each exam will include a passage drawn from "founding documents"   
   such as the Declaration of Independence or from discussions   
   they've inspired.   
      
   Instead of testing a wide range of math concepts, the new exam   
   will focus on a few areas, like algebra, deemed most needed for   
   college and life afterward. A calculator will be allowed only on   
   certain math questions, instead of on the entire math portion.   
      
   Tania Perez, 17, a senior at Capital City Public Charter School   
   in Washington, said she would like to have taken the test on a   
   computer -- and with the vocabulary changes.   
      
   "Some of the SAT words that we've seen, well personally, I've   
   seen, taking the SAT ... I've never heard of them and stuff,"   
   Perez said. "That would have been better for me. I think my   
   score would have been a lot higher."   
      
   Aja McCrae, 14, a freshman at Bell Multicultural High School in   
   Washington, will be in the first class to take the new SAT. In   
   an interview outside her high school, McCrae said taking the   
   test on a computer could help but she wonders if there will be   
   technical problems.   
      
   "The math portion, with a calculator, I think it should be used   
   on the entire test. I don't like that change," McCrae said.   
      
   Jim Rawlins, the director of admissions at the University of   
   Oregon, said the changes appear "potentially helpful and useful"   
   but it will take a few years to know the impact, after the   
   students who take the revised test go on to college.   
      
   "It's all in the details of how it all plays out," said Rawlins,   
   a former president of the National Association for College   
   Admission Counseling.   
      
   Some high school and college admissions counselors said   
   eliminating the penalty for wrong answers and making the essay   
   optional could make the test less stressful for some students.   
      
   "It will encourage students to consider the questions more   
   carefully and to attempt them, where before if a cursory glance   
   at a question made it seem too complex to them, they may go   
   ahead and skip that question," said Jeff Rickey, dean of   
   admissions at St. Lawrence University in Canton, N.Y.   
      
   A longstanding criticism of the SAT is that students from   
   wealthier households do better because they can afford expensive   
   test preparation classes.   
      
   The College Board said it will partner with the nonprofit Khan   
   Academy to provide free test preparation materials for the   
   redesigned SAT. It also said every income-eligible student who   
   takes the SAT will receive four fee waivers to apply for   
   college, which continues an effort the College Board has had to   
   assist low-income students.   
      
   These are the first SAT upgrades since 2005 when the essay   
   portion was added and analogy questions were removed. There have   
   been other notable changes to the test, such as in 1994 when   
   antonym questions were removed and calculators were allowed for   
   the first time. The test was first used in 1926.   
      
   The SAT was taken last year by 1.7 million students. It has   
   historically been more popular on the coasts, while the other   
   main standardized college entrance exam, the ACT, dominated the   
   central U.S. The ACT overtook the SAT in overall use in 2012, in   
   part because it is taken by almost every junior in 13 states as   
   part of those states' testing regimen.   
      
   ACT president Jon Erickson said when hearing of the SAT changes,   
   his take-away was that "they could've been talking about the ACT   
   now."   
      
   "I didn't hear anything new and radical and different and   
   groundbreaking, so I was a little left wanting, at least at the   
   end of this first announcement," Erickson said in a phone   
   interview.   
      
   Bob Schaeffer, education director at the National Center for   
   Fair & Open Testing, or FairTest, said it is laudable that the   
   SAT partnership with Kahn Academy will provide free test   
   preparation but it is unlikely to make a dent in the market for   
   such preparation. He also said the new test is unlikely to be   
   better than the current one. His organization has a database   
   with institutions that don't require ACT or SAT scores to make   
   admissions decisions.   
      
   http://www.mercurynews.com/education/ci_25281813/sat-drops-essay-   
   returns-1600?source=inthenews   
      
       
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)