the new SATs

Discussion in 'Education and Academia' started by MLS SupaStr3, Mar 12, 2005.

  1. MLS SupaStr3

    MLS SupaStr3 New Member

    Jul 2, 2003
    NJ
    i just took the new SATs this morning with the essay. they are long as anything! i got there at 8 and i didnt get out until 1. i thought generally they were pretty easy though. did anyone else take them yet? and what did you think?

    ps. for anyone else taking them: make sure to bring a snack and some water. they are long and you will get hungry
     
  2. backheelflick

    backheelflick New Member

    Dec 23, 2004
    York, Pennsylvania
    the SATs...memories

    I met my target of 1400+ and was satisfied enough. Haven't a clue about the new ones.

    Of course, I couldn't stop thinking about the Premiership action I was missing while taking them
     
  3. MLS SupaStr3

    MLS SupaStr3 New Member

    Jul 2, 2003
    NJ
    the maximum points you can get now are 2400 and there's 3 sections. the main difference is they took out the part (i think) where you have to match stuff together and added an essay. we're not supposed to get our scores back till may
     
  4. backheelflick

    backheelflick New Member

    Dec 23, 2004
    York, Pennsylvania
    looks like you did well. any idea of what colleges you might apply to next year?
     
  5. MLS SupaStr3

    MLS SupaStr3 New Member

    Jul 2, 2003
    NJ
    i wanna talk to some of my friends still that are in college but i have an idea. so far i'm looking at northeastern, a couple other colleges in boston, some in RI, and a couple more in pennsylvania. there's a good chance i wont be going to college in NJ. the coop program at northeastern looks pretty good. have you ever heard of that?
     
  6. backheelflick

    backheelflick New Member

    Dec 23, 2004
    York, Pennsylvania
    I know one person who goes to Northeastern and he likes it there. I unfortunately have not heard of that program. Try to keep your sanity senior year and realize that ultimately its what you make of your college experience that matters.

    I live outside of Philly, so I'm pretty familiar with the PA schools. At your educational service. :)
     
  7. quentinc

    quentinc New Member

    Jan 3, 2005
    Annapolis, MD
    They took out analogies and added a 25?-minute essay writing portion that is treated as another segment of the test and therefore adds 800 points. They've also introduced Algebra II concepts into the math portion.

    I took the actual thing back in 7th grade (which means I constantly get mail) and scored a 900, not bad considering I didn't know any of the math. I got a 183 on my PSAT's this year and I'm shooting for a 215 next year, which I think is good enough for National Merit.
     
  8. MLS SupaStr3

    MLS SupaStr3 New Member

    Jul 2, 2003
    NJ
    im not sure if ill go as far as philly (im pretty close to nyc so thats a very long drive) the coop thing is that you spend some of your college time as an intern. this way when you go job hunting, you're not going without experience
     
  9. MLS SupaStr3

    MLS SupaStr3 New Member

    Jul 2, 2003
    NJ
    ye its 25 minutes

    are you taking any SAT classes?
     
  10. quentinc

    quentinc New Member

    Jan 3, 2005
    Annapolis, MD
    No, I was going to take one for the PSAT (I'm still a year away from the SAT's) but I didn't get the money in on time.
     
  11. nsa

    nsa Member+

    New England Revolution
    United States
    Feb 22, 1999
    Notboston, MA
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I tutor students for the SAT and took the new one myself a couple months back. I got 1510 on the old SAT with math my strong suit (sometime last century - let's leave it at that :) ). Math was actually my worst this time around, about 2050 overall. :(

    Really dumb, headslapping mistakes on the math 'cause I rushed through it. No more of the quantitative comparison problems and they venture into solving and factoring quadratics. Never trust their drawings to be to scale.

    The essay is graded on a scale from 1 to 6. They are not looking for a finished product, more the organization and presentation of supporting ideas.

    I cheerfully greeted the demise of analogies. Now the real headache is sentence correction. If English is not your first language or you spend too much time on IM and boards like this then you'll have problems.

    There are more long and short reading passages than before. Good skimming skills are a must.

    The three parts (800 points each) are: Math, Writing (includes the essay and the sentence correction stuff), and Critical Reading (includes vocabulary, main idea, and conclusions).

    http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/sat/about.html
     
  12. quentinc

    quentinc New Member

    Jan 3, 2005
    Annapolis, MD
    On the PSAT, I found the sentence corrections to be very difficult.
     
  13. backheelflick

    backheelflick New Member

    Dec 23, 2004
    York, Pennsylvania
    I did well on the SAT II Writing which has been incorporated into the verbal. I found the Barron's SAT II writing book to be excellent(I got a 770 on the real thing). In fact, I jumped from a 770 on the SAT II Writing from a 620 on the PSAT Writing section.
     
  14. nicephoras

    nicephoras A very stable genius

    Fucklechester Rangers
    Jul 22, 2001
    Eastern Seaboard of Yo! Semite
    Jesus, they've retailored this whole thing directly to my specifications. Oh well; SAT wasn't that big a deal. The LSAT was sooooo much more "fun".
     
  15. needs

    needs Member

    Jan 16, 2003
    Brooklyn
    The Times had an editorial yesterday bemoaning the end of the analogy section, given that faulty analogies have become a mainstay of political discourse (their example was Grover Nordquist comparing the estate tax to the Holocaust). The editorial claimed that judging analogies was the mainstay of several professions and disciplines, among them the law.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/13/o...on/Editorials and Op-Ed/Editorials&oref=login

    On another subject, the best use of the essay section will be in determining whether the applicants themselves wrote their admissions essays. I heard a couple of admissions officers on NPR (from Chapel Hill and Carleton) stating that's the main way they will use the essays.
     
  16. MLS SupaStr3

    MLS SupaStr3 New Member

    Jul 2, 2003
    NJ
    i didnt get a chance to read the article but does that mean that colleges will be able to view our essays that we wrote? i didnt like my essay and i didnt agree with waht i was writing, i just agreed with it because it seemed easier to argue. i dont colleges judging me on an essay that i wrote about something i didnt agree on and that i wrote at 8 in the morning
     
  17. needs

    needs Member

    Jan 16, 2003
    Brooklyn
    It was my impression from the interview that they'll be able to see the actual essay, but that they were going to give it significant weight only if they suspected that the admissions essays were not written by the applicant. They'd use it as a point of comparison.
     
  18. junjunforever

    junjunforever Member

    Feb 18, 2002
    i think they are missing the point. You color in the wrong circle in the analogies section not because you dont know the relationship between the words, but because you dont know the definition of the vocabs.
     
  19. Metros Striker10

    Metros Striker10 New Member

    Jul 7, 2001
    Planet Earth
    How are these essays graded anyways? Essays are judged mainly on opinion. Plus, fatigue also plays a part in that too.
     
  20. MLS SupaStr3

    MLS SupaStr3 New Member

    Jul 2, 2003
    NJ
    i heard that theyre just graded on technical ability, like how you organize your ideas and stuff like that. are you talking about fatigue for the graders or for the students taking the tests? the essay is the first thing you do on the SATs
     
  21. Metros Striker10

    Metros Striker10 New Member

    Jul 7, 2001
    Planet Earth
    Fatigue for the graders. I'm pretty sure that a lot of the graders will get bored from essays on the same topic(s) over and over again.
     

Share This Page