Juniors take the first redesigned SAT

The students crowded outside of Archbishop Mitty High School on March 4 had nervous looks on their face, unsure of what to expect from the most important test of their high school career. Among the anxious group of high schoolers was junior Nimisha Devanagondi.

“The test was definitely challenging because no one really knew what to expect,” Devanagondi said. “But in a way, it levels the playing field because everyone had the same exact preparation as I did, so that was reassuring.”

Initially, Devanagondi wasn’t planning on taking the SAT, as she had taken the ACT in October. But after seeing her scores from the October PSAT, she felt that the revised SAT suited her skill set better, and she was confident that she could do well on the new SAT.

Devanagondi began preparing by taking the four official tests College Board released prior to the test in March.

“I think the changes in the new SAT benefitted me because it was less vocab-oriented and more like the ACT,” Devanagondi said. “Also, it’s less time-pressuring than the ACT, which is definitely a plus.”

Similarly, junior David Nguyen thought it would be more beneficial to take the new SAT in March, because he would have more opportunities to take it in the future if he did not do well the first time.

“There were some vocab questions in the reading section that were a little tricky, despite the new SAT not having an actual vocab section,” Nguyen said. “The essay was also a bit difficult because the article that was given lacked [content] to write about. But other than that, the writing and math sections were relatively easy.”

Nguyen took four 2-hour weekly classes for four weeks at Jay Koo Academy and did about eight practice tests prior to his test. He said he felt pretty confident after taking the test and does plan on taking it again sometime in June if he feels unsatisfied with his score.

“Some advice for other people is to eliminate answer choices, especially for the reading section,” Nguyen said. “Also, practice a lot to make sure you aren’t rushing or going too slow on the test, since being able to balance accuracy and speed is important when taking the test.”