Stressing Over SATs

Brianna Platania
Class of 2017

​On Wednesday, March 2 all juniors at Wethersfield High School will be taking the new SAT. This test is very important when applying to colleges and it is something students should be taking seriously, so here is some information to help you prepare for taking the test.

The new SAT consists of four parts; a 65 minute reading section, a 35 minute writing and language section, a 25 minute math section without calculators, and a 55 minute math section with calculators.

“The test is about four hours long or so, give or take.” said Mr. Miller, a math teacher at Wethersfield High School.

“The schedule is predetermined by the College Board, and there are breaks that are scheduled into the testing, it’s usually like an hour test and then a break, another hour test and a break.” said Dr DeVivo, assistant principal at Wethersfield High School.

When talking to Dr. DeVivo and Mr. Miller I got the chance to ask what makes the the new SAT different from the old one. “It’s going to be different, it’s interesting cause it’s based off of content more this time as opposed to just thinking. It used to always just be a thinking test, now there’s gonna be more content in it.” said Mr. Miller.

Mr. Miller also gave me some tips on what to do in order to prepare for the test. “Take practice tests, I mean a lot of the old test you almost could prepare for by just knowing tricks and some people could get those tricks better than others, but then with this one there’s a lot of content in them.” he said.

There are practice test available on CollegeBoard.org and there is even a mobile app available that will give you a daily SAT question to help you prepare.

Practice makes perfect but if for whatever reason you need to retake the SAT there are other test dates available in May, June, and October so don't stress out too much but as always try your best.

Link to practice test: https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/sat/practice/full-length-practice-tests

---