Well where to begin...bear with me, I'm up late again and it's been a long day.
My daughter is in the 7th grade and took the SAT today! It is just for the experience and doesn't 'count' for use in college entrance. She is in the Duke University TIP Program (7th Grade Talent Search). She gained entrance into the program because she scored 93% on the CogAT (Cognitive Aptitude Test) in the Composite portion. Oh don't ask. I already feel like I'm typing in a foreign language!
So today I arose dark and early to take her to Shiloh High School to invigorate herself with the nearly four hour long test. I was able to actually find the school and not get lost. It's really a moment of victory when I can drive 5 miles and not get lost...this is nothing to most people, but for me, it's amazing. I really should get one of those GPS thingies but I hardly go anywhere so it's not worth the expense. (I probably will get one in a couple years when they will go down a lot in price.)
But I digress again like I often do! The Scholastic Aptitude Test from the College Board (remember them?) has changed a lot since I took the SAT oh...what was it...24 years ago (YIKES!) I remember there was the Math section and the Verbal section. I remember my math score was barely above what you get for just putting your name in the little boxes and spelling it correctly. My Verbal score was way, way up there if I recall. Anyhoo....(yeah I know, hard to believe anyone who'd type 'anyhoo' had a high SAT Verbal score, idn't it?)
Back to my point, and I did have one, I swear! In 2005, the SAT was totally revamped. Now there are three sections, and each section is worth 800 possible points, a perfect score being 2400. The sections are: Math, Writing, and Critical Reading. Critical Reading is what has replaced Verbal. The Writing section is just what it sounds like - real writing! Students pick a topic and then take a point of view on that and expound on their opinion(s). My daughter is weak in Math like I am (which is why you won't see me homeschooling). She has a good chance to do well on the SAT , because she's strong in 2 out of 3 sections.
She said the Math portion made her brain hurt, but that the Critical Reading and Writing sections were .... easy! A 13 year old 7th grader saying they're easy! I really hope that she did well, it will be interesting to see how her scores compare to other kids in the TIP program...we'll find out in May. I guess it takes them that long to read all those essays!
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AND! They can use a calculator. :)
I took the SAT 3 times. Each time, one score would go up and one would go down. So, it all kind of evened out in the end.
Thanks for posting, Cindy...glad to hear someone out there reads my ramblings!
I took the SAT 2 times, I think. Yeah, I forgot about that...they CAN bring a calculator now.
Another thing that is different is that they can't bring a piece of scratch paper to do their figuring, but they
CAN scribble in the testing booklet. The directions went on and on about what TYPE of calculator you can bring (you can't bring anything that beeps or buzzes) and also no cell phones allowed anywhere near the testing area. They told my daughter it's because of the cameras that are in cellphones now, not just that they make noise.
We didn't have all this hi-tech stuff to worry about in 1983!
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