Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, October 31, 1993 TAG: 9310310069
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: D1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURA WILLIAMSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Dee Dee Scott turned the pages of the new PSAT exam this month and sure enough, there they were - words she had never seen in her life.
But she didn't panic. She reached back into her memory and grabbed hold of the test-taking tips she learned at North Cross School and from watching a pay-per-view video recently at the West End Community Center.
The easy questions come first. Cross off immediately answers you know are wrong.
"It was pretty hard," said Scott, "but seeing the tape beforehand really helped."
The tape she and nine other West End teens saw during an Oct. 9 private screening was "The Princeton Review Video Guide to the SAT and College Admission." Cox Cable offered the free screening twice - once to teens at the community center and once to area guidance counselors and principals.
The 90-minute program is available on pay-per-view stations across the Roanoke and New River valleys for $14.95 and will air for the last time this week, in time for students who are preparing to take the SAT on Nov. 6, Dec. 4 or Jan. 22.
Cable officials do not know if it will be shown again in the spring, before the March 19, May 7 or June 4 test dates.
At times reminiscent of an MTV video, the program uses quick-cutting images and flashy colors to capture the students' attention while it highlights changes in the Scholastic Aptitude Test (soon to be renamed the Scholastic Assessment Test). It also offers tips for taking the SAT and its precursor, the PSAT, and advice on how to select and apply to colleges.
The video is just one of many ways students can prepare for the standardized exam, known to strike fear into the hearts of college-bound high school students. Although many have charged that the SAT fails to predict how well a student will do in college, it continues to carry weight with college admissions officers.
So students - and school districts - continue to take the test seriously. And now that it's changing for the first time in 20 years, students are more anxious than ever about what to expect.
Perhaps the biggest change in the SAT, which will be given in its old format until January, will come in the math section. Students will be allowed - but not required - to use calculators (not PowerBooks). There also will be 10 new questions that require students to fill in their own answers instead of picking one of four responses.
The remaining questions will continue to offer multiple-choice answers, and there will be an extra math and an extra verbal section. The Test of Standard Written English, which measured writing ability without requiring any writing, will be dropped.
The new test also cuts out the antonym (words of opposite meanings) section in favor of a heavier emphasis on critical reading. Students will have an extra 15 seconds for each question to make the transition to the new test easier.
The PSAT (Preliminary Scholastic Assessment Test), given to juniors in October and used to qualify for the National Merit Scholarship competition, already has changed to reflect changes in the SAT. The students who took it this fall will be the first to take the new SAT in the spring.
But they don't have to be nervous about it, according to the Princeton Review video.
Among other tips, the video offers this advice to students:
Remember that the questions are presented in order of difficulty. Easy questions come first and count the same as tough ones.
If you can eliminate at least one answer you know is wrong, guessing will almost always improve your score.
Scores are based on the number of correct answers, not the number of questions you complete. In other words, you don't have to answer all of the questions to get a high score.
If a question comes at the end of a section, the answer that appears obvious is probably wrong (hard questions have hard answers).
Students are encouraged to tape the program, because it provides a lot of information quickly. And there's nothing legally preventing students from sharing that tape with their friends, said Linda Pharis, education coordinator for Cox Cable.
"We don't advocate it," she said. "We can't. On the other hand, this is a very special program, and we want the maximum number of kids to see it."
School systems offer their own preparatory courses, both in and out of class. Some, such as Roanoke and Roanoke County, charge students for the four-hour after-school and weekend sessions. The city charges students $30 for a 6-week session. The county charges $60, but offers a no-credit class students can take free during regular school hours.
Salem offers its before- and after-school SAT class at no charge.
"If it's a worthwhile program, we think it should be available to all of our students," said Betsy McClearn, assistant principal for curriculum at Salem High School.
Salem once paid a private company to teach the course and charged students for it, said. But after she substituted for an absent SAT teacher one day, McClearn realized that Salem teachers could teach it just as easily.
"I just thought, `We can do this,' " she said.
Students who take the course typically see their scores increase more than 100 points, she said. One student saw his math scores climb 200 points.
Private companies that offer SAT preparation courses also claim big gains in test scores. Students at Kaplan Educational Centers show an average score increase of 115 points, according to the company. It offers classes in Roanoke and Blacksburg for $395.
Kaplan has designed a new course for the spring that will go over changes in the SAT and offers a money-back guarantee. The company will refund tuition to students who attend 90 percent of the classes, do three hours of homework per week and don't see an increase in their scores, said Freda Blecher, a company spokeswoman.
During the 12 three-hour sessions, students will take three practice tests, Blecher said. Classes will begin in February and will be limited to 15 students each.
But even students who don't take the class can pick up sample SATs from Kaplan at no charge. The company also offers free evaluations of their strengths and weaknesses, Blecher said.
And the company offers free 90-minute seminars that highlight changes in the testing format to PTAs and other groups. Information about the test is available by calling (800) KAP-TEST.
Students who want to know more about changes in the SAT without spending money also can call The Princeton Review - a company founded in 1981 to prepare students for this exam - for a pamphlet called "The No-Stress Guide to the New SAT." The number is (800) 995-5565.
Memo: ***CORRECTION***