Vega115
02-April-2005, 07:46 PM
First off, Let me just say, I still have a headache from the SAT this morning, and that ended about 3 hours ago.
Even though it was first administered on March 12th, my test center closed during that day, so The Collegeboard rescheduled a makeup day - today!
Biggest pitfall of the test - it's length. They've upped the number of sections to ten, including the essay. Yes. Ten Sections. Essay Included. That brings the entire testing time to a grand total of four hours. Four hours of being in a metal chair ina room with no heat while its raining and about 50 degrees out...not nice. The testing rules say that they have to start at 8:00:00 am, and we had to be at the test center by 7:30:00, and me, knowing how much of a lazy bum I am meant that I had to get up at 6:00:00 am. On a Saturday. MEH!
I'm not sure if I can talk about the specifics of the test yet or not, because they are really strict about that, but what the hell, I'll tell you about the essay...
Oh the essay...
Whats to say? How about....YOU CAN'T WRITE A 'CREATIVE PERSUASIVE' ESSAY IN 25 MINUTES!!!!! It feels good to say that. Honestly, the instructions were to write a "creative, persuasive essay proving your point of view in 25 minutes" (redundant much?) And the question was something to the effect of 'Are acts, such as helping a starving child' done out of selfishness on part of the helper so they feel important to themselves, or in society? Use examples from literature or real world to prove your point'. The question was something along those lines, it had the same idea (it was the first section, and that was at 7:40:00 am this morning, and Im kinda braindead right now). I don't wanna go into what I used as examples only because they might start a flame fest, and I honestly don't want that. Also, they only give you two pages in the answer booklet for the essay, no more. One kid filled up both pages and couldnt write his conclusion because they are not allowed to give us more paper. I myself had about an inch left on the second page.
The math was definatly more advanced, but for some reason, I felt that it was not as hard as i thought it would be. Hmm. Some ques. were relatively hard. Others, they were just easy, but very very wordy, and can trip you up.
The verbal section..well..ANALOGIES ARE DEAD AND BURIED FOR GOOD! Wahoo!!! I hated analogies if you couldn't tell. But because of that, the verbal sections seemed to get kinda repetative, like, they were asking the same thing, only using different words, ya know? There's only so many times you can ask "how can you fix this sentence?" before the person starts getting annoyed (for me it was right after section 6).
Overall, I would have to say that it was definately a tougher test. Yes, It was my first time taking it, but from what I have heard from ppl who took the Jan. test, and the March one, they say that the march one was def. tougher than the Jan one. It was complicated, it was advanced, and my god in holy heaven was it long. I never wanna take a four hour test ever again (and ironically, im taking the SAT three more times...).
Now It's just time to wait and see my score, out of the new grading system, which now makes a perfect score a 2400!!!! YIKES! :o Heck, If I break 2000, Ill be jumping for joy. I'll post it in this thread to let you know how I all did...
Now i needa take a nap and an advil....[/b]
Even though it was first administered on March 12th, my test center closed during that day, so The Collegeboard rescheduled a makeup day - today!
Biggest pitfall of the test - it's length. They've upped the number of sections to ten, including the essay. Yes. Ten Sections. Essay Included. That brings the entire testing time to a grand total of four hours. Four hours of being in a metal chair ina room with no heat while its raining and about 50 degrees out...not nice. The testing rules say that they have to start at 8:00:00 am, and we had to be at the test center by 7:30:00, and me, knowing how much of a lazy bum I am meant that I had to get up at 6:00:00 am. On a Saturday. MEH!
I'm not sure if I can talk about the specifics of the test yet or not, because they are really strict about that, but what the hell, I'll tell you about the essay...
Oh the essay...
Whats to say? How about....YOU CAN'T WRITE A 'CREATIVE PERSUASIVE' ESSAY IN 25 MINUTES!!!!! It feels good to say that. Honestly, the instructions were to write a "creative, persuasive essay proving your point of view in 25 minutes" (redundant much?) And the question was something to the effect of 'Are acts, such as helping a starving child' done out of selfishness on part of the helper so they feel important to themselves, or in society? Use examples from literature or real world to prove your point'. The question was something along those lines, it had the same idea (it was the first section, and that was at 7:40:00 am this morning, and Im kinda braindead right now). I don't wanna go into what I used as examples only because they might start a flame fest, and I honestly don't want that. Also, they only give you two pages in the answer booklet for the essay, no more. One kid filled up both pages and couldnt write his conclusion because they are not allowed to give us more paper. I myself had about an inch left on the second page.
The math was definatly more advanced, but for some reason, I felt that it was not as hard as i thought it would be. Hmm. Some ques. were relatively hard. Others, they were just easy, but very very wordy, and can trip you up.
The verbal section..well..ANALOGIES ARE DEAD AND BURIED FOR GOOD! Wahoo!!! I hated analogies if you couldn't tell. But because of that, the verbal sections seemed to get kinda repetative, like, they were asking the same thing, only using different words, ya know? There's only so many times you can ask "how can you fix this sentence?" before the person starts getting annoyed (for me it was right after section 6).
Overall, I would have to say that it was definately a tougher test. Yes, It was my first time taking it, but from what I have heard from ppl who took the Jan. test, and the March one, they say that the march one was def. tougher than the Jan one. It was complicated, it was advanced, and my god in holy heaven was it long. I never wanna take a four hour test ever again (and ironically, im taking the SAT three more times...).
Now It's just time to wait and see my score, out of the new grading system, which now makes a perfect score a 2400!!!! YIKES! :o Heck, If I break 2000, Ill be jumping for joy. I'll post it in this thread to let you know how I all did...
Now i needa take a nap and an advil....[/b]