The Scholastic Assessment Test? No sweat.

The Scholastic Assessment Test? No sweat. It's just a exhibition right? You sit down and whip gone out the old Number 2. Before you know it, you've filled in a snappy pattern of little black circles, guaranteed to give you a consummate score.

If merely The reality, unfortunately, is a bit more nerve-racking. When it be due [i]or[/i] owings to college admission, your body entrance exam is the second-most critical factor that admission officers at in the greatest degree schools consider. Only your grades in college-prep courses cast for more. As Andrew Lutz director of research and increase at The Princeton Review, says, "A worthy SAT score may not master you into the college of your choice, further a bad score can definitely restrain you out."

What's more--if the hurry weren't intense enough already--the corporation Board officially unveiled a novel SAT exam last spring that not past nor futureed these new challenges:

* A LONGER exhibition The new SAT clocks in at a mind-numbing three and a half hours versus three hours for the not new test.

* strange SCORING The exam includes three sections (math, critical reading, and writing) instead of just brace (math and verbal). The scoring for each section is based upon a 200- to 800-point scale, thus the maximum total score is now 2400 versus 1600 The college edifice [i]or[/i] building Board expects the median score to rise from 1000 to about 1500

* WRITER'S CRAMP The most numerous significant change is the addition of a 30-minute handwritten essay. You will be given a quick such as a quote, forward which to base an essay You're now anticipateed to stake out a position and support it with examples from your personal life and studies.

* NO MORE ANALOGIES Replacing the seemingly endles string of crafty vocabulary relationships (i.e. analogies: big drag) are short critical reading passages and recent multiple-choice grammar questions.

* HARDER MATH Algebra II and geometry equations have been added; quantitative-comparison questions have been dropped

* A blow IN THE COST The recently made known test costs $41.50 instead of $26

For observers the changes are a mix of pious and bad news. The suitable news?" Overall, the new SAT is a slightly better exhibition than the old one," Lutz says. "[Although it's a longer test] it deliberates more accurately what students actually contemplation in college-prep classes."

Behind the Change

corporations have been pushing for this change for years. In fact, a number of institutes had limited or dropped their use of the SAT because of their dissatisfaction. (Check www fairtest.org for a list.) In 2001 the urgency to change the test armorial bearingsed when Richard Atkinson, then president of the vast University of California system, threatened to small quantity the SAT unless a writing exam was added. His research showed that a writing sample could be a pious predictor of college success.

The writing experiment on the new SAT is virtually identical to the antiquated SAT II writing test, which the association Board has eliminated. "The essay is really something that can be prepared for," says Elizabeth Villanova, go to the bottom and director of The Academic Center of Tampa. an test-prep companies are so confident that they can dramatically improve a student's essay score that they're increasing their guarantee forward points of improvement.

As for the analogies, hardly any test-takers miss them, and they were rarely masked in high school curricula. Regarding the math: Algebra II and geometry conceptions are tough, but they're screened in college-prep classes. What's more, these questions will account for no other than 10% of the total math section. Another bonus: overall, learners have slightly more time by question.

Going the Distance

The biggest downside? The longitudinal dimensions of the new SAT is daunting. Richa Dhawan, a 17-year-old from Bridgewater, recent Jersey, took a free practice version of the fresh SAT and says, "The ordeal took much more stamina than I had realized. You're switching from math to critical reading to a different kind of math. I was at the trial site from 9 to nearly 1:30"

To score high, you have to prepare yourself to move the distance. Here are tips from test-prep prompts coolheaded kids, and the community Board.

* prosecute CHALLENGING COURSES. Look for classes that will help you polish your essay-writing skills. And take Algebra II.

* POLISH YOUR COMPREHENSION SKILLS. "Even forward the math, you have to be a suitable reader to understand what is being asked," Villanova notes.

* PREP YOURSELF. place up a regular SAT consideration routine well in advance of the experiment There are test books, online exams, and software. Companies move test-prep courses that typically richness up to $1,000 for 6 to 12 sessions, further some schools also offer exempt or low-cost prep. Also, juniors should take the PSAT this fall. It has been revised to contemplate the new SAT.

* WATCH THE CLOCK Time yourself forward practice tests. "You'd be surprised at the number of parents who say, 'My child did well forward the practice test,' and it incline differentlys out that the child had all weekend to work in succession it," Villanova says.

* TAKE CARE. Accuracy deems so read all questions carefully and don't rush. It's better to acquire easy and average questions right than to charge ahead to the point in disputes that very few people will answer correctly. Also, check that if you're upon question 37, you're filling in number 37 onward your answer sheet.