Becton’s administration has reinstated an SAT Prep class as an elective for junior year students. Taught by English Teacher Mrs. Cannarozzi and Math Teacher Mrs. Kochik, the course focuses on preparing students for the unique style of the SAT test and ultimately raising students’ scores.

“Buy a good SAT prep book and work on it weekly. Practice good vocabulary words and learn more synonyms and antonyms,” advised Mrs. Cannarozzi.

The College Board has changed the SAT yet again. Set to come into effect next year, these changes are especially important for the present sophomores and juniors. Among the myriad of small changes to both the math sections and English sections, the most significant is the elimination of the writing section.

“If I could change anything, it would be to keep the writing section because students need to know how to write well,” said Mrs. Cannarozzi in regards to College Board’s upcoming alterations to the SAT.

As SAT teachers Mrs. Kochik and Mrs. Cannarozzi face many challenges, the biggest challenge is to raise scores. According to Mrs. Cannarozzi, the difficulty of the SAT has stayed relatively the same for years. The difference is that teenagers are reading and studying a lot less than before, which in turn, results in lower scores. According to betterhighschools.org, over the past 15 years, over 15 million students have graduated with a reading skill below the basic level.

Math Teacher Mrs. Kochik, who has experience as an SAT tutor, recommended a math score of 500 or higher. She suggested that students take the SAT no more than two times. The reasoning behind this is because the colleges pick the highest score. If there are more than two scores, there is a possibility of the score being averaged and this could in turn cause a lower score.

Mrs. Kochik went on to state that the SATs are generally more useful than the ACTs because they are recognized by more colleges, but she also added that it depends on the college. She stated that the math section has stayed relatively the same in terms of difficulty. Although they have gotten rid of quantitative comparisons, they have added functions.