Eight Things You NEED to Know About the New SAT

1. Many colleges, including the University of California (UC) system, will only accept the new SAT.
   
2. The new test will have nine sub-sections: three Math, three Critical Reading, two Writing, and one Experimental. The Experimental section will not count towards your score.
   
3. The "new" Writing section is not really new; it's essentially the SAT Subject Tests: Writing test. Since the Writing section will be added to the SAT, the SAT Subject Tests: Writing test will be eliminated after 1/22/05.
   
4. Your test essay may be made available to any college that requests it to use as a supplementary writing sample for the purpose of college admissions.
   
5. The essay does not require outside knowledge of the topic. The writing style essay graders look for is very easy to teach.
   
6. It looks like students will have slightly more time than in years past to answer each math question on the exam.
   
7. The Algebra II concepts will account for around 10% of the math questions on the new test--that's right--only 10%.
   
8. The new SAT will not be harder, it will only be different. The average SAT score will be the same--just calculated on a slightly different scale.