Redesigned SAT

從2016年春季開始，SAT Reasoning Test將進入另一個新的紀元！考試總分將從目前現行的3科2400分，改為2科1600分！英文作文部分改為選擇性考試，學生可自行選擇（大學是否要求則看各大學規定），而且寫作的時間也從原本的25分鐘延長為50分鐘！最重要的是新的SAT考試將不再測驗學生對於艱澀難懂的生字的認識，轉而集中在了解學生對於文學理解，邏輯推論等能力的程度！以往讓學生們擔心的倒扣制度也將取消。第一次的新制SAT將在2016年的3月份正式登場，學生們可以在2015年5月從網路上下載到最新的模擬試題。2015年10月份的PSAT考試，也將以新形態出現，讓學生能夠有更多的了解。

新制的考試是針對學生進入大學時應具備的能力為重心所設計的，強調文字及數理推論在生活中的應用。但是，這樣的轉變對於國際學生來說，真的是利多的消息嗎？

我們的解讀是不見得！

依據以往頂尖大學公佈的大一新生入學資料來看，雖然大學口中是說學生可以自行選擇繳交SAT或是ACT的成績做為申請依據，但當我們再進一步的去分析已經錄取的新生申請時繳交的成績到底是哪一種考試時卻往往發現，東西兩岸的主要大學都是以SAT成績為主！這個道理很容易理解。相對於ACT只有36個等級來看，SAT總共有180個等級(新制也有120個等級)可以讓學校更清楚比較學生間的學力差異；而SAT的考試設計中的倒扣機制，更可以讓大學了解考生就算是猜到的成績，也應該是在有根據的情況下推估出來的結果而得到的分數。所以在這裡，我們可以很明確的說，即使大學在官網上說的是SAT以及ACT都會被平等看待，實際上還是有所差異。這個情況在進入到新的SAT之後，可能會更加明顯！雖然新制的SAT中，學生可以選擇是否要加考作文，但在這裡，我們還是強烈建議每個想要申請排名較好學校的同學們，還是加考一下比較妥當！

新制SAT中對國際學生的衝擊將來自英文的部份！！新的英文考題，CollegeBoard稱之為Evidence Based Reading and Writing。顧名思義，題目中會提供很多的資料給學生參考，讓學生分析這些資料之後，找到正確的答案。這樣的考題設計，對於平常看書不求甚解的學生，或是閱讀速度太慢的學生就會產生很大的困擾！另外，新制的SAT中將著重在字彙的衍生意義，以及不同的用字如何對文章的內涵、語調、意義等帶來的影響。換句話說，以前只會把生字的第一個解釋被起來的學生，現在要把第二、第三、甚至第四個意義也清楚了解才能順利答題了。另外，也建議學生經由大量的閱讀來增加自己對歐美文化背景的了解，並且能夠深入了解文字運用的方法，如此才能真正在新制的SAT中取得好的成績！

以下是目前CollegeBoard提供的參考題目說明:（dedicate並不是個困難的單字，相信大家都學過，但是它在不同的地方運用起來卻可能會有稍微不同的意思。）

Questions on the redesigned sat’s Reading Test might also explore how the same word shifts meaning between or even within contexts. To understand the latter, consider, for example, how Abraham Lincoln variously uses “dedicate” in the Gettysburg Address. The word is not notably obscure or difficult in its most common modern usage. Most students would understand what it means, say, to describe another person as a dedicated friend or employee. However, in the hands of an adept writer and orator such as Lincoln, even a relatively simple, common word such as “dedicate” can take on a range of nuanced, related meanings and implications.

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate — we can not consecrate — we can not hallow — this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.

It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Abraham Lincoln, address delivered at the dedication of the National Cemetery at Gettysburg, November 19, 1863.