The New SAT

If it's anything like the practice test offered by Kaplan, then it's essentially the old PSAT minus the analogies and quant comps plus an essay. They say the math is tougher, and that it incorporates Algebra 2. In other words, they added f(x) and g(x), a few simple graphs, and a couple of simple quadratic problems. They also added "short reading passages." These are paragraph-long excerpts from the same type of stuff they got the old SAT passages from. The grammar is just like that of the PSAT, and the essay is a test of how much trash you can put down before the time's up.

In fact, the whole SAT is, will always be, and has always been a nationwide demonstration of how good people are at absorbing crap and regurgitating it onto an answer sheet via little penciled bubbles. If it ever was a "reasoning test," then by now all the reason has been edited out of it by those ETS elitists who think they can determine how smart kids are by forcing a tricky exam down their throats. Anyone with enough cash for a review book or course can easily earn a decent score, even if once upon a time they had a snowball's chance in hell of getting into any college at all.

With schools demanding that students learn more than they could ever care to, it's not surprising that the SAT has caught on to the suck-up-and-spit-back-out routine. In fact, life itself is becoming one big stage for the fine art of BS-ing.