Revamped PSAT will not include essay section

After announcing it would overhaul the format of the SAT just over a year ago, the College Board has decided to alter another one of its tests for university-bound students -- the PSAT.

The exam -- the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test -- taken by high school students as practice for the SAT, is set to be revamped for a 2004 debut, but will not include the essay section that will be added to the SAT.

The PSAT, which is also used to determine if students qualify for the National Merit Scholarship program, is designed to measure verbal reasoning skills, critical reading skills and math problem-solving skills, according to the College Board's Web site. Despite the decision to omit the essay section, the exam will still evaluate a student's writing skills through other short-answer means. Officials have cited issues over cost and time as contributing to the decision.

While the essay section has been omitted from the PSAT, the College Board decided in the summer of 2002 that it would be adding a writing section to the SAT, consisting of multiple choice questions and a 25-minute essay.

The concern among higher education officials, guidance counselors and parents is that students who have not had the practice that the PSAT essay allowed them will now suffer on the writing section of the revised SAT, to be administered in 2005.

For instance, Seppy Basili, the vice president for learning and assessment at Kaplan, Inc., a standardized test preparation company, noted, "I worry about the representation of minority students on the SAT because of the new Algebra II" and writing sections, mentioning that urban schools generally don't have rigorous writing programs or an emphasis on higher-level math.

Kristin Carnahan, the associate director of public affairs at the College Board, said she was not concerned that the changes to the new PSAT would be detrimental to the students' SAT scores, despite the fact that they would not have had practice with the essay section.

"All schools get free access to an essay practice tool called 'ScoreWrite,'" she said, a practice exercise that helps prepare students not only for the essay portion of the writing section, but also for the multiple choice section.

Higher education officials, such as Alvin Sanoff, the former managing editor of America's Best Colleges, predict that the recent changes to the SAT and the PSAT "will generate more business for test prep companies."

"The rules of the game are being altered and everyone wants to feel as though they're ready to play," he said.

Basili echoed his sentiments.

He noted that "changes are always good for us. 1994 was the last time the SAT changed, and that was the biggest year of growth for Kaplan."

Sanoff said that while test preparation companies may benefit, students are likely to see the recent changes as more anxiety-provoking.

"For those whose ambitions are to go to a highly selective school... [the writing section] is simply going to add an additional element of anxiety to an already anxiety-ridden process," he said of the changes already made to the SAT.

"Timed essays freak out 17-year-olds," Basili said, echoing Sanoff.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.