WASHINGTON (AP) – The current version of the SAT college entrance exam has its final run this weekend, when hundreds of thousands of students nationwide will sit, squirm or stress through the nearly four-hour reading, writing and math test. A new revamped version debuts in March.
Sixteen-year-old Alex Cohen, a junior at the Miami Country Day School in Florida, thinks he’s solid on math, but he’s been studiously cramming on vocabulary words to get ready for the exam.
“I don’t want to study for the new one, so hopefully I’ll do well on this one,” he said.
Alex said his college adviser was worried about students being “guinea pigs” for the new SAT that rolls out March 5 and told him to focus on Saturday’s exam. “There’s a lot of vocabulary on this test so I’ve been trying to memorize as many words as I can per day,” said Alex, who wants to study business and finance in college.
The College Board, the nonprofit organization that owns the SAT, says more than 351,000 students registered to take the Jan. 23 test. That’s a nearly 10 percent increase over the number of students registered for last January’s exam. A major snowstorm could force cancellations along some parts of the East Coast. Make-up sessions would be offered with the current exam.