英文寫作專家Dr. Joe對於ＳＡＴ作文改革的看法

SAT Redesigned—What Does It Mean?

Dr. Joe

In the last few days, the parents, the students, and the thousands of educational professionals throughout the United States (and the world) have been twittering with excitement and anxiety about the most critical changes ever of SAT since 2005, the year when the so called “New SAT” was introduced.

The test format of SAT has been varying, is varying, and will be varying. While online education and mobile learning are penetrating each and every single nook of our lives, we should applaud with true heart the College Board and Khan Academy for redressing the erroneous direction American education is galloping in. On the current problematic road, the poor but brilliant young souls have to face the unbearable financial burdens the rich youngsters probably can’t even understand, and all high schoolers will endure the nerve-racking emotional struggles and psychological tortures. Perhaps the only winners are the test prep companies, who care much less about the students’ long-term good.

The new SAT essay will allow the test taker 50 minutes instead of the present 25 minutes, which means it will be more demanding and more important. Although the separately scored portion will be optional, that NEVER means the essay is just an unnecessary luxury. According to collegeboard.org, “The essay will measure students' ability to analyze evidence and explain how an author builds an argument to persuade an audience. Responses will be evaluated based on the strength of the analysis as well as the coherence of the writing.”  Sounds familiar? Yes, that’s exactly what the college education demands of the prospective students. Apparently, the admission officers of American colleges will take it much more seriously than the current SAT essay due to the reinvented writing requirement oriented to the true higher education.

On April 16, 2014，the College Board will share the complete specifications of the exam. The details of the new game are still to be updated in the next two years. So let’s wait for the dust settled. 

全新SAT的含義

英文原文作者：Dr. Joe

中文翻譯：mimangzhong

 

過去幾天，美國各地的（以及全世界的）家長、學生和成千上萬的教育專業人士都在興奮與不安中紛紛議論著SAT自2005年以來最關鍵的改變，正是在那一年所謂的“新SAT”產生了。

SAT的考試設計一直在變化，正在變化，並將繼續變化。網上教育和移動學習正在日益滲透進我們生活的每一個角落，而美國教育正在沿著錯誤的方向飛奔，我們應該真心讚賞College Board和Khan Academy對於這個歧路的糾正。在目前問題成山的道路上，貧窮但傑出的年輕人必須麵對難以承受的財務負擔（而富裕的學生可能卻難以理解這種負擔），以此同時所有的高中生都要忍受惱人的情感鬥爭和心理折磨。也許唯一的贏家是那些應考公司，當然他們是不在乎學生的長遠發展的。

新的SAT短文將給考生50分鍾而不是目前的25分鍾，這意味著它的要求更高，也更重要。盡管短文部分會單獨打分並且是選作的，這絕不意味著它隻是一個不關緊要的奢侈品。根據collegeboard.org網上的信息，“短文將測驗學生分析證據的能力以及解釋作者怎樣建立論點說服受眾的能力。對於答案的評價將基於分析的力度還有寫作的連貫性與條理性。”聽起來很熟悉是嗎？對！因為這恰恰是大學教育對未來學生的要求所在。很明顯相對於現在的SAT短文來說，美國大學的招生官員們將對改革後的短文重視得多的多，這是因為重新設計的寫作要求正是針對了真實的高等教育。

2014年的4月16日，College Board將公開SAT考試完整的規範內容；在未來的兩年內，新遊戲的細節會不斷更新。讓我們拭目以待塵埃落定。