Would this the pre 94 SAT, the post 94 SAT ( analogies section taken out ) that even MENSA will not accept or the even dumber new one?
I ask because I am interested in encouraging my DD to take it next year in 7th grade and am wrestling with the idea because I wonder if it has been dumbed down to the point of worthlessness these days with its lowered ceiling.
I am considering the ACT now but would like to see if the new SAT has any advocates...
My twins are participating in the College Board study comparing the current and new SAT for younger (talent search) kids so I will have a more informed opinion to share in a few months. For now, I am just speculating based on a limited review, but I will say this much, unless or even if your DD is at a "hard ceiling" (100% correct) situation with the current SAT, I doubt that the new SAT will be "dumb down" for her. For example, on the current SAT, DS12 consistently scores 790-800 on the Math sections of College Board practice tests, but I don't know whether he will be able to score as highly on the new SAT. Keep in mind that the new SAT actually covers some more advance topics than the current SAT so younger kids can easily miss 1 or more questions. Also, unlike the current SAT, there is a "no calculator" section on the new SAT so calculation errors may be more prevalent. DS hasn't tried the math section on the new SAT practice tests but he has tried one CR section and his score was at the low end of his range although he is not at the ceiling for CR so his practice test scores have a 100+ point spread. I expect DS will have a lower CR score on the new SAT also because the new CR score incorporates the language subscore. In other words, I think it will be harder for most talent search kids to qualify for SET unless they switch to using the CR subscore (scale to 40) rather than the CR score (scale to 800 based on CR plus Language subscores). Of course, some GT kids are stronger with language mechanics than reading comprehension but the more common pattern seem to be higher CR than Writing/Language scores.
The new SAT will be like the ACT in that it is more of an achievement test versus the current SAT, which is somewhat of an ability test.
