Why Did the SAT Add a No-Calculator Math Section?
The College Board has raised a lot of eyebrows–and anxiety–with the SAT revisions being rolled out in March 2016. While the wisdom of most of the changes can be debated, one new policy seems almost indefensible: the new SAT will include a No-Calculator Math section. If the implications of this addition are unclear, this means that every SAT will include 20 questions (15 Multiple-Choice and 5 Student-Produced Responses) to be completed in 25 minutes entirely without the use of a calculator. Yes, the Math section will also serve up 38 math questions that permit calculator support, but teens today are used to using their calculators for EVERYTHING. With the SAT already losing ground to the other college admissions test in town, why would the College Board make a decision almost guaranteed to drive students into the proverbial arms of the ACT? According to the College Board, this change is in…
Are Accommodations Available for the No Calculator Section of the PSAT?
The College Board will be leading us all through a lot of unexplored territory with the major upcoming revision to the SAT. Luckily for them, though perhaps unluckily for some high school students, the October PSAT will provide a much-needed test run. Since the next PSAT will be delivered in the new format, students will have to contend with unfamiliar question types and rules. Correspondingly, the College Board is receiving questions it hasn’t heard before… “Can a student with a math learning disability receive an accommodation to use a calculator on the new No Calculator Math section?” Variations of this question are sure to make up the most common accommodations question for the new PSAT and SAT. Unfortunately, as of the moment of publication of this article, the test maker hasn’t released much information on the issue. Fortunately, though, I called and queried a representative from the College…
Meet The New SAT: MATH
For those in the know, SAT Math has never really been about the math. Of course, the SAT has always tested math concepts ranging from basic arithmetic to higher level algebra and arithmetic. But the math section of the SAT really challenges problem solving ability, creativity, and logic. Thus, students with excellent grades in math classes at school often earn merely average SAT Math scores because they lack the conceptual understanding to solve tricky test problems. The redesigned SAT maintains that commitment to prioritizing math manipulation over calculation, but also shuffles the content portfolio to emphasize linear equations and trigonometry at the expense of basic geometry. The College Board claims the redesigned SAT will require a stronger command of fewer, more important topics, but the list of topics across four functional areas tested still seems pretty deep: Heart of Algebra (33%) Linear equations, inequalities, and systems; linear functions; graphing equations…