As expected, Trustees of the College Board voted unanimously in June to develop a new SAT I, adding a writing test, toughening the mathematics section and making other changes to the exam.

The new test, to be given for the first time in March 2005, will require each student to produce a handwritten essay as part of the new writing exam and replace the verbal analogies section with additional reading comprehension questions. The math questions will be based on the first three years of college preparatory mathematics, including second-year algebra questions. Currently, the exam's mathematics questions cover arithmetic, first-year algebra and geometry.

UC President Approves The SAT I changes were applauded by UC President Richard Atkinson, who, in February 2001, recommended that UC consider dropping the SAT I as a requirement for students applying to UC.

According to Atkinson, the College Board's revisions were consistent with the specifications outlined by the Board of Admissions and Relations with Schools (BOARS) earlier this year. He said they would "encourage students to take challenging courses in high school, knowing that their efforts will be reflected in their test scores."

Atkinson also said that asking students to express their thinking in writing was "a critical skill for success in college and beyond" and would "focus attention on the teaching of writing in the K-12 schools."

New Writing Section Currently, UC requires that applicants take the SAT II subject test in writing . Under the proposed test battery, the SAT II writing test may be eliminated and the writing component would be incorporated into the core SAT I exam. However, details on this matter as well as on how the SAT I will be revised have not been worked out yet. Preliminary discussions indicate that roughly two-thirds of a student's writing score on the new SAT would be based on multiple-choice questions on grammar and usage, with a 25-minute handwritten essay counting for the rest. In the essay, students would be required to take a position in response to a general question, compose a thesis statement and provide supporting evidence.

For example, a student might be asked to consider a statement such as, "Novelty is too often mistaken for progress," and be asked to write an essay on the extent that they agree or disagree with this view.

The writing sample will be scored by two readers. According to College Board President Gaston Caperton, the essays would be made available to admissions officials over the Internet so that they could read an applicant's unpolished prose. However, UC has not made any decisions on whether or not it would utilize this service. Preliminarily, the College Board has indicated that the new exam will have three parts - critical reading (replacing the current 'verbal' section), math, and writing - and that each section will have a total possible score of 800, increasing the maximum score for the full test from 1600 to 2400. The writing examination is expected to increase the total testing time and the cost of the SAT I. However, costs and seat time for UC applicants are not expected to increase substantially because UC already requires the SAT II Writing examination, which will now be incorporated into the SAT I.

Nationwide Exam Although the College Board is proposing its changes largely as a response to suggestions from UC, the SAT I would change nationwide, thus avoiding the need for a California-only version of the exam.

American College Test Inc., which owns the ACT, has not decided whether its proposed change - adding an essay portion - would be implemented nationwide.

Test development and field testing for both a revised SAT I and an optional ACT writing exam will begin this year and continue through 2004, giving students and teachers a chance to prepare before they are readied for the class entering in 2006.

BOARS will continue to work closely with the College Board and ACT, Inc. on the development of admissions tests. Also during the upcoming academic year, BOARS will deliberate on which SAT II Subject tests will continue to be required along with the new SAT I or revised ACT core examination.

No matter what transpires in the near term, counselors should continue to advise students to follow UC's current admissions test requirements by taking either the SAT I or the ACT exams in addition to three SAT II subject tests.

New sample questions on the revised SAT are available online.