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Have y'all looked at the study materials for the new PSAT / SAT?


MyThreeSons
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Has anyone else looked into the new PSAT / SAT yet? 

 

This is a major revision, in both philosophy and scope. I have taught SAT / PSAT / ACT Prep classes for several years, focusing mainly on math concepts and strategies. I am teaching a PSAT Prep class in a couple of weeks, just before our Co-op starts back up. I have A LOT of prep work to do to be ready to teach this. 

 

Khan Academy is partnering with the College Board to provide free online test prep, which is nice. I haven't done too much with that yet, though, to see how that is going to work. I did pick up the Official SAT Study Guide, published by the College Board, which includes "4 Real SATs", and Barron's Strategies and Practice for the New PSAT / NMSQT. I usually prefer the Princeton Review test prep publications, but Barnes and Noble didn't yet have a PSAT prep book by them that includes strategy suggestions; the one they had just had a couple of practice tests with explanations of the answers. 

 

A few notes, based on my preliminary preparation:

 

  • A significant portion of the math must be done without a calculator. Many of my tutoring students don't know how to graph without their TI-83 or TI-84.
  • While Geometry used to be significant on the PSAT and SAT, now there will only be a couple of problems.
  • Both the PSAT and SAT seem to assume the student has had more training in statistics than I think most students have had at the beginning of their junior year. For instance, the prep books mention things like margin of error, standard deviation, and confidence intervals.
  • Within the math section, there are some questions which have non-numerical (or variable) answers. For example, they will ask the student to select the sentence which would "be the most helpful piece of information to have about the data collected for the table in order to ensure comprehensive and accurate results?" 
  • At least basic trigonometry knowledge is assumed, including working with angles measured in radians, on the PSAT.
  • The Reading and Writing sections include questions which require the student to make inferences from data presented in graphs, charts or tables within the passage to be read. 
  • I'm glad I don't have a student who will be a junior this year and is potentially a National Merit Scholar. There is no telling what these scores are going to look like this year. 

 

 

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Thank you for this.  It was really clear and easy to understand.  DH and I read it with great interest.

 

Can you please keep us updated as you learn more about this, maybe something about your opinion of the Kahn prep materials etc?

 

I know you have a lot to do just getting ready to do the actual test prep, so if your info is sort of 'quick and dirty' that is fine, but you would be doing the community a great service.

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I noticed quite a few of those same observations when I took the free practice PSAT that the College Board released this spring, but your list is put together much more coherently than my pencil-scratched notes.

 

The charts and graphs reminded me of ACT Science.

 

I agree that the scores this year are going to be very interesting indeed.

 

I hate these tests.

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No, I haven't, even though the brand-new book is sitting literally fourteen inches away from me. I am in denial!

 

 

But thank you so much for posting your insights!

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I also own the Official Guide from the College Board but haven't really looked at it yet. Dd is a sophomore and will take the PSAT for practice this year; I want to see what math it has that she hasn't had yet. Probably too much to do at all well this year. I appreciate your observations--keep 'em coming as you do more work with it!

 

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I saw a guy on a Ted Talk or something who is an SAT-Test Prep Coach and he said he is telling all his Junior-year clients to take the ACT instead.  There was some reason that I don't remember (about how the scoring will be skewed and screwed up for the first year...but I don't remember those details).  But he also said that a lot of colleges are getting fed up with all the SAT changes, and are going toward the ACT because a) it has been relatively stable and b) they are finding it to be a better predictor of success than the SAT...because it measures your abilities more than your knowledge.  

 

I am seriously out of date, and no longer care about this stuff (LOL) in a real-life sense, but I found it interesting because I am at heart a marketer, and I think it is just FASCINATING how the College Board has screwed up from a marketing perspective.  They had a stranglehold on the market and they threw it away by trying to bow to ever whim and fashion of education.  So I *sort of* remember what the guy said.  

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I noticed quite a few of those same observations when I took the free practice PSAT that the College Board released this spring, but your list is put together much more coherently than my pencil-scratched notes.

 

The charts and graphs reminded me of ACT Science.

 

I agree that the scores this year are going to be very interesting indeed.

 

I hate these tests.

 

Thanks for the link to the free practice PSAT. I don't know why I hadn't seen that before. 

 

Yes, the charts and graphs are reminiscent of the ACT Science test. I don't know that I would say that what I am seeing so far is harder than the old test. But it really requires a very different approach. 

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Thank you for this.  It was really clear and easy to understand.  DH and I read it with great interest.

 

Can you please keep us updated as you learn more about this, maybe something about your opinion of the Kahn prep materials etc?

 

I know you have a lot to do just getting ready to do the actual test prep, so if your info is sort of 'quick and dirty' that is fine, but you would be doing the community a great service.

 

I will try to remember to come back and update. 

 

Our Co-op has always taught SAT Prep as a one-semester course in the Fall. This was to be my first year teaching it during the school year, after having taught it in Summer sessions for several years. Then when we heard about the changes coming, they asked me if I could teach an ACT Prep course in the Fall, and then SAT Prep in the Spring. So that's what I'm doing, but I just don't want to see these rising juniors going in to the PSAT without at least some preparation. 

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Dd will take a PSAT as a practice at public school this year (she'll be a sophomore). I think they are pushing the practice because it's going to be a lot different.

I taught with Princeton Review for a short while, and I hate the College Board.

 

Public schools have had sophmores take the PSAT as practice for years.   That's nothing new having to do with the new tests.  

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Well, I'm kinda glad my son will take the SAT for the last time, God willing, this October as a senior.  I was disappointed for him that they were rolling out a new version in Spring 2016, cuz it will be too late for him by that point.  I hated the writing portion of the current SAT as it's his weak link so the idea that they were going to remove that was nice.   But after reading this, I guess I should be happy that he will be done before they make all the changes.  I mean, he's a math guy, actually attending a Math Magnet public school, and will have 7 math credits when he graduates....but only taking AP Statistics as a senior as a CHOICE....he could have taken a few other math options.   So for a student on a "regular" path....Statistics might not even be a math they take in high school....so to include those on the SAT....just not fair, really.

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  • I'm glad I don't have a student who will be a junior this year and is potentially a National Merit Scholar. There is no telling what these scores are going to look like this year. 

 

 

I have a junior, and when I first heard about it last fall I was annoyed.  But the more I learn the less it bothers me, because everyone will be on a level playing field. The qualifying score in my state (NY) is high, and there are kids who have prepped for years for these tests. At least this year everyone will be going in blind, and test prep will be less important.

 

We decided last year to have my son take the ACT, and it looks like that was a good decision since this new SAT/PSAT is more like the ACT. If he scores high enough to be in contention for National Merit he will take the new SAT, otherwise he will just stick with the ACT. I do feel like College Board has bungled the roll out of this test, and it will be interesting to see how it all shakes out.

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I have a junior, and when I first heard about it last fall I was annoyed.  But the more I learn the less it bothers me, because everyone will be on a level playing field. The qualifying score in my state (NY) is high, and there are kids who have prepped for years for these tests. At least this year everyone will be going in blind, and test prep will be less important.

 

 

 

I know what you mean, and yet I'm afraid that those kids whose parents spend hundreds of dollars on test prep will have an advantage even on this first run of the test. 

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Public schools have had sophmores take the PSAT as practice for years. That's nothing new having to do with the new tests.

The schools here start it in 8th grade. Oldest has already taken it twice with no prep. I'm not going to do anything different this year (she's a sophomore) just because it's new. We're looking at it as still just practice and no big thing.

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Ugh. I have one who will either take the new SAT or the ACT. SAT would be easier logistically (we have to drive to another city/stay overnight to take the ACT) and the changes will make it more *like* the ACT (charts & graphs, no penalty for guessing) so we are going to start off prepping for the new SAT. If it does not go well she can take the ACT. I hate change.

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Ugh. I have one who will either take the new SAT or the ACT. SAT would be easier logistically (we have to drive to another city/stay overnight to take the ACT) and the changes will make it more *like* the ACT (charts & graphs, no penalty for guessing) so we are going to start off prepping for the new SAT. If it does not go well she can take the ACT. I hate change.

 

The current SAT will be given through January 2016. Can she prep to take it by then?

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