The New SAT®
Important information
about the Critical Reading &
Writing sections
The Changes to the SAT
Verbal
• Name will be changed to critical reading.
• Analogies will be eliminated.
• Short reading passages will replace analogies and
will measure the kind of reasoning formerly
measured by analogies.
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The Changes to the SAT
Analogies will be ELIMINATED
CLAY:POTTER::
(A) stone:sculptor
(B) machines:mechanic
(C) hems:tailor
(D) bricks:architect
(E) chalk:teacher
Correct answer: A
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Revised SAT Verbal Section–
Renamed Critical Reading
Example of passage-based analogical reasoning items
The relationship between the “spectroscope” and a
“star’s chemical composition” (lines 37–38) is most
like the relationship between
(A) a periscope and a submarine
(B) a microscope and a cellular structure
(C) a generator and an electrical charge
(D) a test tube and an experiment
Correct answer: B
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The Changes to the SAT
Writing
• Multiple-choice grammar and usage questions
• Will measure the student’s understanding of how to use language in a clear,
consistent manner, how to revise and edit, and how to recognize an error in a
sentence.
• Student-written essay
• Will measure the student’s use of language: logical presentation of ideas,
development of a point of view, and clarity of expression under timed
conditions.
• Essay practice tool provided AT NO COST to all schools administering the
PSAT/NMSQT.
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Time Specifications
SAT
Old SAT
Critical Reading
3 hours
3 hours 45 minutes
75 minutes
70 minutes
Two 30-minute sections and one
15-minute section
Two 25-minute sections and
one 20-minute section
60 minutes
Two multiple-choice sections (one
25-minute section and
one 10-minute section) and
one 25-minute essay
Writing
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New SAT
Variable Section
30 minutes
25 minutes
Math
75 minutes
70 minutes
Two 30-minute sections and one
15-minute section
Two 25-minute sections and
one 20-minute section
Test Content and Question Types
Old SAT
Sentence Completion
Critical
Reading
Critical Reading: Long reading
passages
New SAT
Sentence Completion
Critical Reading: Short and long
reading passages
Analogies
Multiple-choice: Improving sentences
and paragraphs and identifying errors.
Writing
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Student-written essay: Effectively
communicate a point of view on an
issue, supporting a position with
reasoning and examples.
Test Scores
Critical Reading
Old SAT
New SAT
V 200–800
CR 200–800
W 200–800
2 subscores
Writing
Essay: 2–12
(~1/3 of writing score)
Multiple-choice: 20–80
(~2/3 of writing score)
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Critical Reading
Revised SAT Verbal Section–
Renamed Critical Reading
Strengthens alignment with classroom practices
• Measures knowledge of genre, cause and effect, rhetorical devices,
comparative arguments, and the ability to recognize relationships among
parts of a text.
• Long and short reading passages are taken from different fields:
• Natural sciences
• Humanities
• Social sciences
• Literary fiction
• Short reading passages, which replace analogies, will measure the kind of
reasoning formerly measured by the analogy section.
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Revised SAT Verbal Section–
Renamed Critical Reading
Strengthens alignment with classroom practices
Measures critical reading skills as shown in student’s ability to:
• Determine word meanings.
• Analyze sentence structures.
• Analyze organizational structures of longer passages.
• Synthesize longer passages into summaries, main points, or themes.
• Make inferences, draw conclusions, recognize implications.
• Recognize tone.
Continued
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Revised SAT Verbal Section–
Renamed Critical Reading
Strengthens alignment with classroom practices
Measures critical reading skills as shown in student’s ability to:
• Analyze and evaluate author’s purpose, audience, and rhetorical strategies.
• Compare or contrast ideas in a passage or in a pair of related passages.
• Analyze and evaluate ideas, opinions, and arguments in a passage or in a pair of
related passages.
• Distinguish conflicting viewpoints in a passage or in a pair of related passages.
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Revised SAT Verbal Section–
Renamed Critical Reading
Strengthens alignment with classroom practices
Analogy items
• The new SAT critical reasoning section will no longer
include analogy item types.
• Critical reading items will embed analogical reasoning
tasks within the context of reading and analyzing
texts, which is a more authentic measure of how
students use analogical reasoning to support critical
reading, both in and out of the classroom.
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Revised SAT Verbal Section–
Renamed Critical Reading
Strengthens alignment with classroom practices
Analogy items
• Analogy items measure both vocabulary knowledge and analogical reasoning
skills—the ability to see a relationship in a pair of words and to recognize a similar
or parallel relationship in another pair of words.
• Analogy items take the form A:B::C:D, where a student is given the words A, B, and
C in the item stem and is asked to select D from among five options. The student
must first establish the relationship between the words A and B and then select D
such that the same relationship exists between C and D.
• While research has shown analogical reasoning to be a valuable skill, the format of
the item type is considered artificial and not aligned with authentic critical reading
tasks.
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Revised SAT Verbal Section–
Renamed Critical Reading
Strengthens alignment with classroom practices
Measuring analogical reasoning without the analogy item type:
• Sentence Completion items measure both word knowledge and the ability to infer
word meaning from context.
• Application and Analogy items ask students to understand an idea or relationship in a passage
and then select a parallel idea or relationship from among five hypothetical relationships
involving different contexts presented in the response options.
• Bridging items ask students to understand an idea in one passage and then compare
it with an idea in another passage.
• Bridging items ask students to understand an author’s point of view in one passage
and then infer what the author would think about an issue or idea expressed in
another passage.
• Comprehension questions ask students to explain analogies, metaphors, and other comparisons
in passages.
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Revised SAT Verbal Section–
Renamed Critical Reading
Example of passage-based analogical reasoning items
The relationship between the “spectroscope” and a
“star’s chemical composition” (lines 37–38) is most
like the relationship between
(A) a periscope and a submarine
(B) a microscope and a cellular structure
(C) a generator and an electrical charge
(D) a test tube and an experiment
Correct answer: B
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The Critical Reading Section
Example of new short-paragraph reading items
Line 5
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Dinosaurs have such a powerful grip on the public
consciousness that it is easy to forget just how
recently scientists have become aware of them.
A two-year-old child today may be able to rattle off
three dinosaur names, but in 1824 there was only
one known dinosaur. Period. The word “dinosaur”
didn’t even exist until 1841. Indeed, in those early
years, the world was baffled by the discovery of
these absurdly enormous creatures.
The Critical Reading Section
Example of new short-paragraph reading items
1. The reference to the “two-year-old child” (line 4) primarily serves to
(A) challenge a popular assumption
(B) highlight the extent of the change
(C) suggest that a perspective is simplistic
(D) introduce a controversial idea
(E) question a contemporary preoccupation
Correct answer: B
2. The statement “Period” (line 6) primarily serves to emphasize the
(A) authoritative nature of the finding
(B) lack of flexibility in a popular theory
(C) stubborn nature of a group of researchers
(D) limited knowledge about a subject
(E) refusal of the public to accept new discoveries
Correct answer: D
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Writing
New SAT Writing Section
Additional measure of an important college success skill
• Essay section measures a student’s ability to develop and express ideas
effectively using standard written English.
• Essay prompts and Scoring Guide are designed to measure critical thinking,
insight, and complexity of thought as student develops a point of view on an
issue.
• Essay is a direct measure, under timed conditions, of the kind of writing that
is expected in most college courses—writing that
engages an issue critically and develops a point of view in a thoughtful,
coherent, and cogent essay.
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New SAT Writing Section
Additional measure of an important college success skill
Multiple-choice items
• 3 types of multiple-choice writing questions:
• Identifying Sentence Errors
• Improving Sentences
• Improving Paragraphs
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New SAT Writing Section
Examples of Multiple-Choice Writing Items
Identifying Sentence Errors:
It is likely that the opening of the convention center,
previously set for July 1, would be postponed because of
(A)
(B)
(C)
(D)
the bricklayers’ strike. No error.
(E)
Correct answer: C
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New SAT Writing Section
Examples of Multiple-Choice Writing Items
Improving Sentences:
Although several groups were absolutely opposed to the outside
support given the revolutionary government, other groups were
as equal in their adamant approval of that support.
(A)
(B)
(C)
(D)
(E)
were as equal in their adamant approval of
held equally adamant approval of
were equally adamant in approving
had approved equally adamantly
held approval equally adamant of
Correct answer: C
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New SAT Writing Section
Examples of Multiple-Choice Writing Items
Improving Paragraphs:
(1) At one point in the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark, the evil archaeologist Belloq
shows the heroic Indiana Jones a cheap watch. (2) If the watch were to be buried in
the desert for a thousand years and then dug up, Belloq says, it would be considered
priceless. (3) I often think of the scene whenever I consider the record album–
collecting phenomenon, it being one of the more remarkable aspects of popular
culture in the United States. (4) Collecting record albums gives us a chance to make
a low-cost investment that might pay dividends in the future.
[Excerpt from longer three-paragraph passage]
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New SAT Writing Section
Examples of Multiple-Choice Writing Items
Improving Paragraphs:
In the context of the first paragraph, which revision is most
needed in sentence 3?
(A)
Insert “As a matter of fact” at the beginning.
(B)Omit the words “it being.”
(C)Omit the word “scene.”
(D)
Change the comma to a semicolon.
(E)Change “think” to “thought” and “consider” to “considered.”
Correct answer: B
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New SAT Writing Section
Additional measure of an important college success skill.
Encourages writing in schools.
Essay
• Students will read a short excerpt, or two quotations, and respond
to a prompt that frames an issue.
• Students must first think critically about the issue presented in the essay
assignment and then define and support their point of view, using reasoning
and evidence based on their own experiences, readings, or observations.
• The essay will be similar to the type of on-demand writing that is typically
done in college.
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New SAT Writing Section
Prompts
• Prompts will be written to be easily accessible to the general test-taking
population, including students for whom English is a second language
(ESL), and to be free of figurative, technical, or specific literary references.
• Prompts will be relevant to a wide range of fields and interests, not narrowly
related to specific topics.
• Prompts will be tested to ensure that they do not carry any bias across
subgroups.
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Essay Prompt
Think carefully about the issue presented in the following quotations and
the assignment below.
1. While secrecy can be destructive, some of it is indispensable in human lives.
Some control over secrecy and openness is needed in order to protect identity.
Such control may be needed to guard privacy, intimacy, and friendship.
Adapted from Sissela Bok, “The Need for Secrecy”
2. Secrecy and a free, democratic government, President Harry Truman once said,
don’t mix. An open exchange of information is vital to the kind of informed citizenry
essential to healthy democracy.
Editorial, “Overzealous Secrecy Threatens Democracy”
Assignment: Do people need to keep secrets, or is secrecy harmful?
Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support
your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience,
or observations.
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Essay Prompt
• The essay will not be coachable since students
must respond directly to the assigned topic.
• Essays not written on the assigned topic will
receive a subscore of zero for the essay portion
of the writing section.
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How Will the Essays Be Scored?
Readers will
• understand that the essay is a first draft;
• read quickly to gain an impression of the whole essay relative to the holistic
Scoring Guide and the sample range-finder essays;
• read the entire essay before scoring and then score immediately;
• read supportively, looking for and rewarding what is done well rather than
what is done badly or omitted;
• not judge an essay by its length or the quality of handwriting;
• understand that grammar is not an overriding factor in determining an
essay score; and
• consider spelling only when errors are so persistent that they interfere
with meaning.
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How Will the Essays Be Scored?
• Readers for the new SAT writing section will be trained
to recognize and reward a wide variety of writing styles and
strategies for developing a point of view at each score point.
• The new SAT essay will neither reward nor punish formulaic
approaches to writing, such as the five-paragraph essay.
• Prompts and the Scoring Guide call for directly relevant
responses that cannot be coached or memorized ahead
of test time.
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New SAT Scoring Guide
Score of 6
An essay in this category is
outstanding, demonstrating clear
and consistent mastery, although it
may have a few minor errors. A
typical essay
• effectively and insightfully develops
a point of view on
the topic and demonstrates
outstanding critical thinking, using
clearly appropriate examples,
reasons, and other evidence to
support its position
• is well organized and clearly focused,
demonstrating clear coherence and
smooth progression of ideas
• exhibits skillful use of language,
using a varied, accurate, and apt
vocabulary
• demonstrates meaningful variety in
sentence structure
• is free of most errors in grammar,
usage, and mechanics
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Score of 5
An essay in this category is
effective, demonstrating
reasonably consistent mastery,
although it will have occasional
errors or lapses in quality.
A typical essay
• effectively develops a point
of view on the topic and
demonstrates strong critical
thinking, generally using appropriate
examples, reasons, and other
evidence to support
its position
• is well organized and focused,
demonstrating coherence and
progression of ideas
• exhibits facility in the use of
language, using appropriate
vocabulary
• demonstrates variety in sentence
structure
• is generally free of most errors in
grammar, usage, and mechanics
Score of 4
An essay in this category is
competent, demonstrating adequate
mastery, although
it will have lapses in quality.
A typical essay
• develops a point of view on
the topic and demonstrates competent
critical thinking, using adequate
examples, reasons, and other
evidence to support its position
• is generally organized and focused,
demonstrating some coherence and
progression of ideas
• exhibits adequate but inconsistent
facility in the use of language, using
generally appropriate vocabulary
• demonstrates some variety in
sentence structure
• has some errors in grammar, usage,
and mechanics
New SAT Scoring Guide
Score of 3
Score of 2
Score of 1
An essay in this category is inadequate, but
demonstrates developing mastery, and is
marked by ONE OR MORE of the
following weaknesses:
• develops a point of view on the issue,
demonstrating some critical thinking,
but may do so inconsistently or use
inadequate examples, reasons, or other
evidence to support its position
• is limited in its organization or focus,
or may demonstrate some lapses in
coherence or progression of ideas
An essay in this category is seriously
limited, demonstrating little mastery, and is
flawed by ONE OR MORE of
the following weaknesses:
• develops a point of view on the issue
that is vague or seriously limited,
demonstrating weak critical thinking,
providing inappropriate
or insufficient examples, reasons, or
other evidence to support its position
• is poorly organized and/or focused, or
demonstrates serious problems with
coherence or progression of ideas
• displays very little facility in the use of
language, using very limited
vocabulary or incorrect word choice
• demonstrates frequent problems
in sentence structure
• contains errors in grammar, usage, and
mechanics so serious that meaning is
somewhat obscured
An essay in this category
is fundamentally lacking,
demonstrating very little or no
mastery, and is severely flawed by
ONE OR MORE of the following
weaknesses:
• develops no viable point
of view on the topic, or
provides little or no evidence to
support its position
• is disorganized or unfocused,
resulting in a disjointed
or incoherent essay
• displays fundamental errors in
vocabulary
• demonstrates severe flaws in
sentence structure
• contains pervasive errors
in grammar, usage, or
mechanics that persistently
interfere with meaning
• displays developing facility in the use
of language, but sometimes uses weak
vocabulary or inappropriate word
choice
• lacks variety or demonstrates problems
in sentence structure
• contains an accumulation of errors in
grammar, usage, and mechanics
Essays not written on the essay assignment will receive a score of zero.
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Scoring Procedures for the Essay
• Procedures will be similar to those for the current
SAT Subject Test in Writing.
• Essays will be scored by trained high school English teachers and college
professors with experience teaching writing.
• Each essay will be scored independently by two readers according
to the holistic Scoring Guide in conjunction with sample essays selected for
training.
• Essays will be scored on a scale of 1 to 6 by each reader
(total score of 2 to 12).
• Essays will be scanned and distributed to readers via the Web.
• Scoring and reader supervision will take place online.
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Essays Will Be Scored
Fairly and Accurately
• If the two readers’ scores differ by more than one
point, the essay will be read by a third reader.
• Based on the College Board’s experience in scoring the
SAT Subject Test in Writing, the rigorous reader
training and qualification process, and continuous
monitoring of readers as they score, the College Board
expects that less than 8 percent of all essays will call
for a third reader.
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Colleges Requiring a
Standardized Writing Test
• Colleges that accept the SAT will continue to
do so, and all will receive the writing score.
• Many colleges have announced that they will
require or recommend that students taking any
college admissions exam must submit a writing
score (including an essay) beginning with those
entering college in the fall of 2006.
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