SAT改革解读一--样题出来之前，我们能做什么？
作者:博智教育 王文静
据纽约时报2014年3月4日报道，SAT出题方College Board的主席David Coleman先生，宣布SAT将于2016年再度改革。在这次发言中透露的改革方向为:
■ Instead ofarcane “SAT words” (“depreciatory,” “membranous”), the vocabulary definitionson the new exam will be those of words commonly used in college courses, suchas “synthesis” and “empirical.” ---新SAT考试中的词汇将不再考察那些出现频率很低的深奥难词，改为考察大学课程中常见词汇如“synthesis 合成”和“empirical经验的”。
■ The essay,required since 2005, will become optional. Those who choose to write an essaywill be asked to read a passage and analyze the ways its author used evidence,reasoning and stylistic elements to build an argument.---自从2005年以来以前要求必考的作文，将成为可选考试项目。学生如选择考这个项目，将被要求阅读一篇文章，分析作者如何使用证据、论理和文体因素来建立一个论证。
■ Theguessing penalty, in which points are deducted for incorrectanswers, will be eliminated. ---错题将不再倒扣分。
■ Theoverall scoring will return to the old 1,600-point scale, based on a top scoreof 800 in reading and math. The essay will have a separate score.---总分将恢复之前的1600分，800分阅读，800分数学。作文部分将单独给分。
■ Mathquestions will focus on three areas: linear equations; complex equationsor functions; and ratios, percentages and proportional reasoning. Calculatorswill be permitted on only part of the math section.---数学题目将主要考三个领域：线性方程，复合函数或复合方程，比例，百分比和比例推理。计算器将只能在部分数学考题部分允许使用。
■ Every examwill include, in the reading and writing section, source documents from a broad range ofdisciplines, including science and social studies, and on some questions,students will be asked to select the quotation from the text that supports theanswer they have chosen.---阅读和作文部分都将出现来自于很多领域的文章，包括科学，社会科学，有些问题上，学生将被要求选出支持他们最后选择的答案的原文引句。
■ Every examwill include a reading passage either from one of the nation’s“founding documents,” such as the Declaration of Independence or the Bill ofRights, or from one of the important discussions of such texts, such as theRev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s “Letter From Birmingham Jail.”--每次考试都将出现一篇文章，要么直接出自美国的“立国文书”，比如独立宣言或权利法案，或者出自对这些文书的重要讨论文章，比如马丁路德金写的“在Birmingham狱中写的信”。
改革动机：Coleman先生强调的改革动机，第一是让SAT考试更贴近高中生在课堂上所学的知识，第二是让SAT高分不再是那些有钱上培训班的考生的特权。当然在这些听起来很美的追求背后，是今年来SAT市场不断被ACT考试蚕食的现实，2013年，1800万考生的SAT已经被1700万考生的ACT考试平分秋色。
推翻重来还是老调重弹? :批评者认为，SAT2005年改革的时候，调子也唱得很高，结果却是换汤不换药。这次Coleman先生的勃勃野心，在2014年4月下旬新SAT样题出来之前，我们还不能判断究竟能落实多少。
基于现有信息我们可以做出以下有限的猜测：
1. 填空题很可能保留，但降低词汇难度。
2. 阅读题只是部分题目要求选出原文的判断依据，更多阅读题目应该是保持现状。
3. 语法部分将不再考。
4. 作文部分的考察，更强调学生的阅读能力。考试形式可以比照新托福考试的综合写作部分。
对2016年春季之后考生（现在初三的学生）的影响：
1. 语法部分取消，对短期培训可以拿到语法部分700+的中国考生来说，是致命一击。 中国考生一向是依赖数学和语法部分拿分，这次改革等于两条腿中切掉了一条。
2. 单词难度降低对中国考生不是好事。深 奥词汇很多美国学生也不会，中国考生可以通过短期突击将这些词汇收入囊中；但是考察常用词汇的时候，为了保持考试对不同水平学生的分辨能力，必将考察这些 词汇在语境中的变换，考察词汇意思不同侧重点之间的细微差别。这些常用词，在英文字典中的释义常常超过十条，而中国考生背诵的词义，只有干瘪的一两个中 文，可能在这些常用词汇的考察中大失水准。而对于美国考生来说，只要有足够的阅读量，见过这些词汇在不同语境中的不同表现，这些题目对他们来说不会有难 度。
3. 部分阅读题目要求在原文中选出判断依据，将堵死利用机经，对比选项技巧等方法猜对答案得分的道路。学生必须是读懂且答对才能得分。
4. 美国立国史将成为中国SAT考生必须补的课，这些立国文书如独立宣言、权利法案等中国考生必须熟稔于心。
总的来说，新的SAT考试强调的是阅读、阅读、阅读。现在初三，已经决定要去美国读大学的考生来说，从现在开始，系统性地同步进行美国中学生的阅读课程，一方面进行兴趣主导的海量阅读，另一方面系统性的进行美国中学生阅读能力、文体知识、常识判断的训练，两年的时间坚持下来，将能够在新的SAT考试中，出人意料地取得出色的分数。
基于目前我们获取的有限信息，新SAT考试中，技巧的大门将渐渐闭合，阅读能力、思维能力将成为考生获胜的法宝。
附：纽约时报报道原文
2014
Saying its college admission exams do not focus enough on the importantacademic skills, the College Board announced on Wednesday a fundamentalrethinking of the SAT, ending the longstanding penalty for guessing wrong,cutting obscure vocabulary words and making the essay optional.
The president of the College Board, David Coleman, criticized hisown test, the SAT, and its main rival, the ACT, saying that both had “becomedisconnected from the work of our high schools.”
In addition, Mr. Coleman announced programs to help low-income students,who will now be given fee waivers allowing them to apply to four colleges at nocharge. And even before the new exam is introduced, in the spring of 2016, theCollege Board, in partnership with Khan Academy, will offer free onlinepractice problems and instructional videos showing how to solve them.
Continue reading the main story
RELATED COVERAGE
City Room: TestYour SAT Essay-Writing SkillsMARCH 6, 2014
The 6th FloorBlog: SAT Scores of the Rich and FamousMARCH 5, 2014
The changes are extensive: The SAT’s rarefied vocabulary challenges willbe replaced by words that are common in college courses, like “empirical” and“synthesis.” The math questions, now scattered across many topics, will focusmore narrowly on linear equations, functions and proportional thinking. The useof a calculator will no longer be allowed on some of the math sections.
Among other changes, the new test will not ask studentsto define arcane words, relying instead on vocabulary used in college courses.CreditPaulVernon/Associated Press
The new exam will be available on paper and computer, and the scoring willrevert to the old 1,600-point scale — from 2,400 — with top scores of 800 onmath and 800 on what will now be called “evidence-based reading and writing.”The optional essay, which strong writers may choose to do, will have a separatescore.
Once the pre-eminent college admissions exam, the SAT has lost ground tothe ACT, which is based more directly on high school curriculums and is nowtaken by a slightly higher number of students. Last year, 1.8 million studentstook the ACT and 1.7 million the SAT.
The new SAT will not quell all criticism of standardized tests. Criticshave long pointed out — and Mr. Coleman admits — that high school grades are abetter predictor of college success than standardized test scores. Morecolleges have in recent years become “test optional,” allowing students toforgo the exams and submit their grades, transcripts and perhaps a gradedpaper.
For many students, Mr. Coleman said, the tests are mysterious and “filledwith unproductive anxiety.” And, he acknowledged, they inspire little respectfrom classroom teachers: only 20 percent, he said, see the college-admissiontests as a fair measure of the work their students have done.
Mr. Coleman came to the College Board in 2012, from a job as an architectof the Common Core curriculum standards, which set out the content thatstudents must master at each level and are now making their way into school.
He announced plans to revise the SAT a year ago and almost from the startexpressed dissatisfaction with the essay that was added in 2005. He said healso wanted to make the test reflect more closely what students did in highschool and, perhaps most important, rein in the intense coaching and tutoringon how to take the test that often gave affluent students an advantage.
“It is time for the College Board to say in a clearer voice that theculture and practice of costly test preparation that has arisen aroundadmissions exams drives the perception of inequality and injustice in ourcountry,” Mr. Coleman said Wednesday. “It may not be our fault, but it is ourproblem.”
Continue reading the main story
Finding beauty in the Gowanus Canal
· Hoarder meets clean-out deadline, exchanging key forcheck
· BBQ Films stages interactive movie screenings withcostumes and skits
Continue reading the main story
Advertisement
While test-preparation companies said the SAT was moving in the rightdirection, with more openness and more free online test preparation, thechanges were unlikely to diminish the demand for their services. “People willalways want an edge,” said Seppy Basili, a vice president of Kaplan Test Prep.“And test changes always spur demand.”
The suggested changes were well received among many educators, but Mr.Coleman’s comments about the ACT drew harsh words from an executive of thatcompany.
“David Coleman is not a spokesman for the ACT, and I acknowledge hispolitical gamesmanship but I don’t appreciate it,” said Jon Erickson, presidentof ACT’s education division. “It seems like they’re mostly following what we’vealways done.”
Philip Ballinger, the director of undergraduate admissions at theUniversity of Washington, said he admired Mr. Coleman’s heartfelt “damn thetorpedoes, full speed ahead” approach to improving the SAT and appreciated theeffort to tame the test-prep industry.
“It’s absurd, and that’s the nicest thing I can call it, how much testprep has grown and how guilt-ridden parents have become about trying to preparetheir kids for the test,” Mr. Ballinger said. “If this helps test prep becomelearning, not gaming, well, shoot, that’s great. “
David ColemanCreditAngel Franco/The New York Times
Some changes will make the new SAT more like the ACT, which for the lasttwo years has outpaced the SAT in test takers. Thirteen states administer theACT to all public high school juniors, and three more are planning to do so.The ACT has no guessing penalty, and its essay is optional. It also includes ascience section, and while the SAT is not adding one, the redesigned readingtest will include a science passage.
But beyond the particulars, Mr. Coleman emphasized that the three-hourexam — three hours and 50 minutes with the essay — had been redesigned with aneye toward reinforcing the skills and evidence-based thinking that studentsshould be learning in high school, and moving away from a need for test-takingtricks and strategies. Sometimes, students will be asked not just to select theright answer but to justify it by choosing the quotation from a text thatprovides the best supporting evidence for their answer.
The revised essay, in particular, will shift in that direction. Studentsnow write about their experiences and opinions, with no penalty for incorrectassertions, even egregiously wrong ones. In the future, though, students willreceive a source document and be asked to analyze it for its use of evidence,reasoning and persuasive or stylistic technique.
Continue reading the main story
RECENT COMMENTS
N. F.
11 days ago
I agree with Coleman about thesechanges. These changes will create a fairer playing ground for college entranceexaminations. This is...
Emily Campbell
11 days ago
While I am a little irked at thechanges, I agree that it may be time to shift away from the traditional SATsections and make the test more...
J.L.
11 days ago
If we want students to eventually beable to manage their money responsibly, maybe it would be a good idea to keepthe word "depreciatory"...
· SEE ALL COMMENTS
The text will be different on each exam, but the essay task will remainconstant. The required essay never entirely caught on with college admissionsofficers. Many never figured the score into the admission decision and lookedat the actual essays only rarely, as a raw writing sample to help detect howmuch parents, consultants and counselors had edited and polished the essaysubmitted with the application.
The Key Changes
These will be among the changes in the new SAT, starting in the spring of2016:
■ Instead ofarcane “SAT words” (“depreciatory,” “membranous”), the vocabulary definitionson the new exam will be those of words commonly used in college courses, suchas “synthesis” and “empirical.”
■ The essay,required since 2005, will become optional. Those who choose to write an essaywill be asked to read a passage and analyze the ways its author used evidence,reasoning and stylistic elements to build an argument.
■ Theguessing penalty, in which points are deducted for incorrectanswers, will be eliminated.
■ Theoverall scoring will return to the old 1,600-point scale, based on a top scoreof 800 in reading and math. The essay will have a separate score.
■ Mathquestions will focus on three areas: linear equations; complex equationsor functions; and ratios, percentages and proportional reasoning. Calculatorswill be permitted on only part of the math section.
■ Every examwill include, in the reading and writing section, source documents from a broad range ofdisciplines, including science and social studies, and on some questions,students will be asked to select the quotation from the text that supports theanswer they have chosen.
■ Every examwill include a reading passage either from one of the nation’s“founding documents,” such as the Declaration of Independence or the Bill ofRights, or from one of the important discussions of such texts, such as theRev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s “Letter From Birmingham Jail.”
好啦，想了解更多TOEFL/IELTS/SAT相关的文章，可以扫二维码关注我们的公众号。
