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SAT’s new writing section levels admissions playing field
By Mark Rader and David J. Craig
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Andre Estrada (ENG’05) tutors Boston English High School students Bereket Sirmollo (left) and Misgana Sirmollo as part of an SAT preparation course offered by BU’s Upward Bound program. Photo by Vernon Doucette |
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College admissions officers have seen it all: application essays copied off the Web, passed down from previously admitted students, or obviously polished by overzealous parents.
Applicants’ true writing skills soon will be more readily apparent, however, as a result of a new essay section in the College Board’s SAT, according to Kelly Walter, executive director of the Office of Admissions. The recently redesigned SAT, which also drops word analogies in favor of multiple-choice grammar and sentence completion questions and for the first time includes analysis of paragraph-length reading passages and advanced algebra, will be administered to high school juniors and sophomores beginning in March.
With the new test, the admissions office will receive a proctored essay from every applicant, whereas until now only certain BU programs required applicants to complete the SAT II writing test. “From a fairness and equity point of view,” says Walter, “we will now have a level playing field. You’d be shocked, and frankly disappointed, to find out how many overedited or plagiarized essays we receive as part of applications in a given year.”
The new SAT is geared more toward reading and writing in response to demands from college officials nationwide, says Walter. A member of the College Board’s governing body, she helped develop the new test over the past several years. “There’s been a lot of emphasis of late — both at the high school level and the college level — about writing skills that are not as sophisticated or strong in students these days,” she says, adding that many BU schools and colleges in recent years have tailored their curricula to emphasize writing. “There was an understanding and a commitment on the College Board’s part about how it could provide additional information to colleges about a student’s writing ability.”
College officials’ concerns about the value of traditional application essays was the impetus for adding the essay section to the SAT, says Walter. But BU admissions officers will continue to consider a strong traditional essay a key part of any application, she says, because it demonstrates an ability to hone writing through revision (students have only 25 minutes to write the SAT essay), as well gives a sense of who the person is behind the application. “We like it,” she says, “because it allows a student’s voice to come through.”
In addition, CAS Assistant Dean Michael Prince, who directs the school’s Writing Program, says the Boston University Writing Assessment will continue to guide placement in freshman writing courses because it allows an hour for students to read, analyze, and write — a more comprehensive skills assessment than the 25-minute SAT writing exercise. “The SAT essay indicates whether students can construct an English sentence,” he says. “But it doesn’t tell you whether students can do the sort of thing they’ll have to do September 1 as freshmen, which is read long books, or make sense of difficult articles, and then translate the things they read into writing.”
Getting ready
Like most of the nation’s major colleges, BU will require applicants for the 2006-2007 school year to take the new SAT, which stretches the previously 3-hour ordeal by 45 minutes and bumps up a perfect score from 1600 to 2400.
The test already is causing hand-wringing among high school students, parents, and school counselors, who wonder how the essay will be subjectively scored, for instance, and which subjects are best to take on the optional SAT II test, whose popular writing section has been eliminated because of the new SAT. Beginning next year, BU will require most applicants to take two subjects of their choosing on the SAT II tests. (Certain programs with alternate requirements are exceptions, such as CFA and the seven-year accelerated medical and dental programs offered by MED and CAS.)
Currently, BU’s federally funded Upward Bound program is helping potential first-generation college and low-income students from four local high schools prepare for the big test. Instructors such as Johanna Lewin (CAS’03, SED’03) focus heavily on the new SAT sections in weekly classes for the students. Besides reviewing basic grammar principles and suggesting essay-writing strategies, Lewin’s main goal is making students feel less intimidated.
“I try to make the test feel like a showcase of their strengths,” she says, “and not a stumbling block in the way of getting to college.”
And this summer, BU employees and their high-school age children can get information about the new test as part of the Office of Personnel’s annual Getting On Course for College program. The one-day class is designed to assist families with the college search process and educate them about BU’s admissions policies and standards. This year, the topic of the new SAT will be covered in detail. “We’re actually targeting freshmen in high school,” Walter says, “so that they can be as well prepared as possible for the college search process.”
She wants all high school students eyeing BU to know, however, that her office places less emphasis on standardized test results than on overall high school performance and such qualities as leadership and community involvement. “The new SAT is going to be a helpful piece of information,” she says, “but it’s not going to be the single factor that makes or breaks admission for any student at BU.”
Applicant pool jumps 11 percent, with large increase in minorities
25
February 2005
Boston University
Office of University Relations