IS
NA PREPARED FOR THE NEW SAT?
2004 SAT'S
100 POINTS BELOW STATE AVERAGE!
Revised
Exam Debuts Next Month!
NORTH
ARLINGTON - With an average SAT score of 906,
only ailing school districts Garfield, Englewood
and Lodi scored lower than North Arlington on the
country's most recognized examination for college-bound
students.
While
nothing can be done to improve current test scores,
the SAT test is being revamped and will be available
to high school students in March to be taken by the
class of 2006.
The
changes in the SAT will make the test more like its
competitor the ACT, which already tests grammar and
higher mathematics along with science and reading comprehension.
For
a fee of $41.50, college bound students may take the
new, three-hour and forty-five minute exam which will
now include Math, critical reading and writing.
Each
section will now be valued from 200 to 800 points. A
perfect score on the revised SAT score will be 2,400.
The current SAT has two parts valued at 200 to 800.
A perfect score is 1,600.
The
writing section will include two-multiple choice sections
focusing on grammar. Students will be asked to improve
sentences and paragraphs while finding errors in structure.
There will be a 25-minute timed essay as well
as a critical thinking section in which the student
will be asked to take a position on the idea presented.
The
new critical reading section has eliminated the analogies
portion of the test. Sentence completions, reading passages
and paired passages with questions that ask the student
to compare something from both reading samples.
The
new math section will eliminate quantitative comparisons
while adding Algebra, math language, functional notation
and students will have the option of using a calculator.
While
most four-year colleges require the ACT over the SAT,
students should find out which exam is preferred by
their potential school choices.
The
ACT has generally been considered a curriculum-based
achievement test while the SAT test the reasoning skills
of the student.
With
North Arlington's test scores near the bottom of Bergen
County high schools, many are wondering just what the
school district is doing to improve student achievement.
"This
Board of Education has a responsibility to the students
and parents to put together a comprehensive plan to
improve student test scores on standardized testing.
The current SAT scores are simply unacceptable and need
to improve. How can this school board ask taxpayers
for more money when they can't demonstrate minimal academic
improvement?" asked one former school trustee upon hearing
about the district's poor performance.
