SAT 2005 quandary: natural smart vs classroom learning.

• Author: Muehle, Lisa
• Position: Education - Standardized educational testing

THIS MONTH MARKS a pivotal divide in the SAT, arguably the most influential test for the nation's college-bound students, and also one of the most controversial. The elusive and once glittering perfect 1,600 score, comprised of 800 verbal and 800 mathematics points, has morphed into a 2,400-point "mother of all tests."

Proponents of the revised SAT format praise its grammar and writing additions and argue that the content-driven questions will benefit attentive and conscientious students who deserve high test scores commensurate with their grade point averages. Advocates of the former SAT format believe that rote memorization has replaced thinking and logic and that reliable indicators of intelligence have been all but stripped from the test.

Originally known in the 1930s as the Scholastic Aptitude Test, the current letters SAT now actually do not stand for anything: yet, when it comes to the difference between a student receiving a thick or thin envelope from a prospective college, those three letters and the scores behind them often stand for everything.

The changes in SAT 2005 (also known as SAT I), which include expanded and more advanced subject matter, have sent some students and their families into scholastic shell-shock. Writing skills and a working retention of more difficult academic material take time to acquire. This year's high school juniors have had a limited time frame in which to prepare for the new exam: the first test preparation guides for SAT 2005 were not available until the summer of 2004 while the College Board's own official SAT guide with practice tests for the revamped exam could not be purchased until October, 2004.

Advocates of SAT 2005 actually may see this year's comparatively small preparatory window as a good thing. In essence, it may level the academic playing field for this first group of students, many of whom will be taking the exam with only partial preparation. Most high school students taking the test will have made some attempt to develop the sophisticated vocabulary proffered by the SAT. Test prep courses cover the exam's revamped content while still offering old tricks to beat the new test--proven strategies such as process of elimination and solving backwards from among the answer choices. Due to the content changes on the exam, SAT preparation now includes such time-honored academic antiques as punctuation, grammar, and the rhetorical essay. The exam will favor students who are fluent with a graphing calculator; many new Algebra II-level problem types are easily solved with this brainy device.

The day of the unprepped SAT student essentially has gone the way of vinyl records, pay phones, and...