One test commonly used for college admissions could be changing.
Recommendations of changes to the SAT will be made to the College Board’s trustees at a June meeting.
Although officials at the College Board, the company that created the test, would not comment about the proposed changes, they did acknowledge possible changes such as the addition of a writing test, the reduction of analogy questions and the addition of a more advanced math section. The highest math level tested on the SAT is algebra and basic geometry. The highest level on the ACT is trigonometry.
The SAT is taken by about 2 million students per year. In fall 2001, more than 1,800 incoming freshmen took the test at MSU.
But education freshman John Ferden said he didn’t see a need to take the test because he knew other options were available.
Instead, he took the ACT.
“I did pretty well on it,” he said. “It was pretty much just common sense.”
Last fall, more than 6,400 of MSU’s incoming freshmen took the ACT. To enroll at MSU, a student must have completed either the SAT or the ACT.
“There wasn’t any reason for me to take the SAT,” Ferden said. “I know a few people who took the SAT, but I have no intention of ever taking it.”
Ferden’s choice to take the ACT is not unique. The ACT generally is preferred by public schools in the Midwest and the SAT often is preferred by private schools on both U.S. coasts.
Changes to the test made by the College Board’s trustees will not take effect until 2006.
But Dempsey Scott, coordinator of Okemos High School’s guidance counseling department, said he advises students to take the ACT rather than the SAT.
“The SAT is not as popular as the ACT for many reasons,” he said. “If you’re a student in Michigan wanting any financial aid, you’re required to take the ACT. The ACT is a newer test and there are no penalties for guessing on it, unlike the SAT.”
As test coordinator for the school, Scott has administered both tests.
“The ACT has more relevant questions,” he said. “On the SAT, the analogies kill you. You can be a bright person and still mess up on those analogies because you have to be quite able to manipulate concepts, thoughts and ideas.”
But Scott said he doesn’t think either test is harmful to a student.
“Take the test more than once, or take both and you might do better in one than the other,” Scott said. “It’s in a kid’s best interest to take all kinds of tests.”
Melissa Biermann, an English senior and Pennsylvania native, took the SAT in 1997.
“I took it three times,” she said. “The first time I had (mononucleosis) and the second time I fell asleep halfway through. It was horrible. There’s a lot of stuff on it we’d learned but as far as the math section, it’s really not relevant to the stuff I’m doing right now.”
Biermann said she didn’t take the ACT because SATtest times worked better with her schedule.
“I had to take one or the other and because MSU accepted both, I just stuck with the SAT,” she said. “I didn’t think it was too bad. From what I’ve heard, the ACT is more diversified with history, science and government courses.”
