How Best to Prepare Students to Take the SAT Mathematics Test NCTM Annual Meeting
Atlanta
March 24, 2007
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Speakers:• Dan Lotesto:
SAT Mathematics Test Development Committee
• Fred Schuppan:
Educational Testing Service
• Robin O’Callaghan:
The College Board
How is the Mathematics Portion of the Test Created ?
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Test Development Language
• Item – Test Question
• Key – Correct Answer
• Distractor – Incorrect Answer Choice
• Pretest – Equating Section that does not count toward score
• Final Form – Operational Test Sections that count toward score
What is the Configuration of the SAT ?
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SAT Configuration and Timing
Content Number of Sections Total Time
Mathematics 3 70 minutes
Critical Reading 3 70 minutes
Writing 3 60 minutes
Equating Section 1 25 minutes
What is the Mathematics Section ?
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Mathematics Section Configuration
Sections Questions Time
Section 1 20 5-choice 25 minutes
Section 2 8 5-choice
10 SPR25 minutes
Section 3 16 5-choice 20 minutes
Total44 5-choice
10 SPR70 minutes
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Content Areas
• Number and Operations (20 – 25%)
• Algebra and Functions (35 – 40%)
• Geometry and Measurement (25 – 30%)
• Data Analysis, Statistics, and Probability (10 – 15%)
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Multiple-Choice
Key = C
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Student-Produced Response
Key = 5/2, 2.5
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The Item
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Pretesting• Items are pretested to determine their difficulty and correlation with the operational test.
• Items are written by a combination of ETS Staff and Outside Item Writers
• Each pretest item is reviewed by at least 5 ETS Test Specialists and 3 College Board Test Specialists
• Pretesting is in the “Equating Section” of the SAT to ensure accurate statistics
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InitialSubmissionFromOutsideItemWriter
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AfterFirstTestSpecialistReview
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FinalVersionofItem
Key = 9.8, 49/5
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Final Form Assembly
• Assembler and 2 ETS Test Specialists Review each Final Form
• Test is sent to College Board and SAT Committee to Review
• 3 College Board Test Specialists Review each Final Form
• At least 5 SAT Committee Members Review each Final Form
The SAT Mathematics Development Committee
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SAT Development Committee
• A Committee in the early 1990’s advised the College Board on 1994 changes to the SAT
• A Committee formed in 2002 to advise the College Board on introducing changes to the SAT
• The present Committee will continue to advise the College Board on the SAT
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College Board SAT Mathematics Development Committee
John A. Dossey, Chair Illinois State University, Normal, IL
Lynne M. Butler Haverford College, Haverford, PA
James R. Choike Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK
Louis P. D’Angelo, Jr. Archmere Academy, Claymont, DE
Ruth Haas Smith College, Northampton, MA
Roger E. Howe Yale University, New Haven, CT
Kenneth J. Koehler Iowa State University, Ames, IA
Karen Longhart Flathead High School, Kalispell, MT
Daniel V. Lotesto Riverside University High School, Milwaukee, WI
Alfred B. Manaster University of California–San Diego, La Jolla, CA
Monique A. Morton Woodrow Wilson Senior High School, Washington DC
Jorge A. Perez LaGuardia Community College, Long Island City, NY
Deborah E. Poss Lassiter High School, Marietta, GA
Betty P. Travis University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX
Charles Vonder Embse Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, MI
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Current SAT Mathematics TD Committee James R. Choike, Chair Oklahoma State University,
Stillwater, OK Deborah Hughes Hallett University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
Roger E. Howe Yale University, New Haven, CT
Karen Longhart Flathead High School, Kalispell, MT
Daniel V. Lotesto University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI
Alfred B. Manaster University of California–San Diego, La Jolla, CA
Monique A. Morton Woodrow Wilson Senior High School, Washington DC
Roxy Peck California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, CA
Deborah E. Poss Lassiter High School, Marietta, GA
Monica Stephens Spelman College, Atlanta, GA
What Does the Committee Do?
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Committee Functions
Advise on Policy• Reasoning vs. achievement?
• Calculator / noncalculator sections?
Final Form Review• Item by item decisions
• Smaller policy decisions
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Committee Functions
Policy Decisions Made• Calculator at least at scientific level recommended
• Knowledge of trigonometry or matrix operations not expected
• Multiple representations of material encouraged
• Multiple solution strategies encouraged
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SAT Committee Review
• Each final form is mailed to at least 5 SAT Committee members
• The committee members work the test and return comments by mail
•Comments are collected and collated by question
•Committee members meet face-to-face to discuss and resolve comments
How Did You Do on the Practice Test ?
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Question 1
Key = D
Percent Correct: 69%
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Question 2
Key = E
Percent Correct: 51%
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Question 3
Key = C
Percent Correct: 33%
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Question 4
Key = A
Percent Correct: 30%
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Question 5
Key = 120 < y < 125
Percent Correct: 67%
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Question 6
Key = 5
Percent Correct: 60%
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Question 7
Key = 2.5, 5/2
Percent Correct: 28%
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Question 8
Key = 13/2, 6.5
Percent Correct: 25%
How Can You Help Students Prepare for the Test ?
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Top 10 Ways To Help Your StudentsPrepare for the SAT Mathematics
Section
• 10 Be familiar with the calculator you bring to the test
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Top 10 Ways To Help Your StudentsPrepare for the SAT Mathematics
Section• 9 Know when and when not to use the
calculator
Calculator is not helpful in answering the question.
Key = C
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Top 10 Ways To Help Your StudentsPrepare for the SAT Mathematics
Section• 9 Know when and when not to use the
calculator
Calculator can be used to perform the arithmetic
Key = B
180 – 3(12) = 144
144 / 4 = 36
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Top 10 Ways To Help Your StudentsPrepare for the SAT Mathematics
Section• 8 Understand what content could
appear on the SAT and what content will NOT appear on the SAT
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Top 10 Ways To Help Your StudentsPrepare for the SAT Mathematics
SectionWhat is on the test?
•More Advanced Algebra
•Reasoning Questions that Involve Multiple Steps
What is NOT on the test?
• Trigonometry, Logarithms
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Top 10 Ways To Help Your StudentsPrepare for the SAT Mathematics
SectionMore Advanced Algebra
Key = B
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Top 10 Ways To Help Your StudentsPrepare for the SAT Mathematics
Section• 7 For questions you can’t solve, it is in your favor to guess if you can
eliminate one or more answer choices
If you know the equation is true for k = 0 and k = 1, then A, B and D can be eliminated
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Top 10 Ways To Help Your StudentsPrepare for the SAT Mathematics
Section
• 6 Don’t spend too much time on any one question
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Top 10 Ways To Help Your StudentsPrepare for the SAT Mathematics
Section• 5 For every question (especially Student- Produced Response) ask yourself, “Is my answer reasonable?” “Did I answer the question asked?”
Key: 2035 N = 51,492 Pop 1: 2040 N = 9,733 Pop 2: 45 N = 3,808 Pop 3: 2030 N = 2,504
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Top 10 Ways To Help Your StudentsPrepare for the SAT Mathematics
Section
• 4 Read the SAT Preparation Booklet from Cover to Cover
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Top 10 Ways To Help Your StudentsPrepare for the SAT Mathematics
Section
• 3 Take the Sample Test in the SATPreparation Booklet under timed conditions
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Top 10 Ways To Help Your StudentsPrepare for the SAT Mathematics
Section• 2 Understand the item types in the test, and what formulas are
given
• You should NOT be using test time reading directions.
• You should know what reference formulas are given and be able to quickly refer to them as needed.
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Top 10 Ways To Help Your StudentsPrepare for the SAT Mathematics
Section• 2 Understand
what item types are in the test, and what formulas are given
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Top 10 Ways To Help Your StudentsPrepare for the SAT Mathematics
Section• 2 Understand what item types are in the test, and what formulas are given
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Top 10 Ways To Help Your StudentsPrepare for the SAT Mathematics
Section• 1 For additional practice test material, use “Real SATs”.
• Only Preparation Publication developed by the makers of the SAT
• Accurate reflection of the content that may appear in the mathematics questions on an SAT
• Test Questions are presented in the same style as on the SAT
• Includes the mathematical reasoning as in the SAT
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YOUR QUESTIONS
Robin O’Callaghan
Office of Academic Initiatives and Test Development
Mathematics Content Specialist