Revised SAT stresses out potential students

High schoolers forced to choose between varying versions of test

By Corrie Driebusch

The Daily Northwestern

A new writing portion on the SAT is forcing admissions officials to decide which version of the test to require and high school students to decide which one to take.

While Northwestern will accept scores from both the old and new versions of the SAT, other universities only will accept scores from the new SAT.

These contradicting policies are causing sheer confusion for the high school class of 2006, the first class that will be affected by the change. They must decide whether or not to take the old SAT in fall 2004, the new SAT in spring or winter 2005, or both.

The two major SAT preparation companies aren’t making the decision any easier.

Princeton Review, like NU, endorsed waiting until spring for the new test. Conversely, Kaplan is advising students to take both the old and the new exam.

“Most students will find the current version of the test to be a little bit easier,” Jason Herel, director of SAT and ACT programs for Kaplan, told The Associated Press. “The test most perceive as easier is still around; most colleges still accept it, so there’s no reason for them not to take it.”

Beginning in fall 2005, Northwestern will require scores from either the new SAT or a revised ACT, said Carol Lunkenheimer, dean of undergraduate admission. The new ACT offers students the option to complete a 30-minute essay.

According to the College Board, 74 percent of 351 admissions directors from 330 four-year colleges surveyed plan to use the results of the writing section of the SAT in admissions decisions. The other schools will continue to look only at the verbal and math portions.

Besides the major addition of a student-written essay, other SAT sections also changed, according to the College Board Web site.

The critical reading section, formerly referred to as the verbal section, eliminated analogies in exchange for short reading passages. In the math portion, quantitative comparisons are replaced with more difficult, expanded math content.

But Lunkenheimer said the College Board assured NU’s admission office that the change in scores resulting from altering the verbal and math portions will not be a “big trauma.”

Because of this assurance, Lunkenheimer said NU will view verbal and math portions from the old and new SAT as interchangeable.

Other schools disagree with NU’s procedure.

Schools from the University of California college system only will look at scores from the new SAT.

Donna Virklan, a college counselor for Niles North High School in Skokie, Ill., said this conflict in policies is going to force the class of 2006 to decide what schools they are applying to earlier and and do more research on universities.

“Students will have to find all the criteria once they pick their top colleges and abide by (the colleges’) guidelines,” Virklan said.

Madeline Graber, a sophomore at St. Paul Academy in St. Paul, Minn., said this makes the college application process more worrisome.

“It makes me feel a little more stressed because I’m going to have to start my college search earlier,” she said. But she did say she plans to take the new SAT in the spring, mostly because her high school recommended it.

But high school sophomore Molly Luken, who attends St. Ursula Academy in Cincinnati, Ohio, isn’t irritated by the extra effort she’ll have to put into her school search.

“What I find annoying is that they switched for our year,” Luken said. “But it’s good because it can show a student’s personal style. The current test doesn’t.”