The Scholastic Aptitude test, or more commonly known as the SAT, is being changed! Ever since the test first was administered by the Educational Testing Service as a college admission requirement, the SAT was always the same, for the most part, through the years. This is the first change since 1994. Rather than just consisting of math and verbal, the "new" SAT well now have critical reading, writing, and math. In addition, in October of 2004, the PSAT will also undergo changes.

The "new" SAT is geared to be a reflection of what should be learning in High School. The new test will be out of 2400 points rather than the old 1600. The first test of the new type will be administered in March of 2005.Critical reading is the new name for the old verbal section. A familiar part of the "old" test is the reading comprehension passages. The passages will still have 400-850 words. Taking the place of the analogy section, will be shorter reading comprehension passages of about 100-200 words.

The new section of the SAT is the writing portion of the test. The multiple choice section will ask students to identity common errors in usage consisting sentences and paragraphs. The essay section will involve students to state an opinion on a specific topic. This is not as easy as it sounds. The students will only have 25 minutes to back up the topic with evidence taken from their reading and experiences. The math section will be rid of the quantitative comparative questions. The reformed section will cover topics such as Algebra II, difficult geometry, and a portion of probability and statics. There will be a greater emphasis on absolute value and quadratic functions.

The "new" SAT is designed to measure what students actually study in high school rather then raw reasoning ability. There is much debate on how the "new" SAT will affect students and their scores but no one has a solid idea until the test debuts in 2005.