by Katie Zager

America has come to know the SAT, or Scholastic Aptitude Test, as that all-important score that stands between students and their academic future. But what exactly is the SAT, how is it changing, and how is it affecting the youth of today?

The SAT is one of today's leading college entrance exams. It's administered by a group of more than 45-hundred educators who make up the College Board. The SAT aims to be an objective measure that can gage test-takers' knowledge .

"The SAT is part of a composite that the student presents in their application to a college and is one of the factors that is considered," Jane Erkmann, a counselor at Service High School, said.

Erkmann said the test's importance depends on the schools. For example, some schools only consider SAT scores and grade point averages.

"For some schools it's really important. They don't even look at you if you don't have that particular score that they're looking for," Erkmann said. "In the smaller liberal arts colleges you have a much better chance for admission, even if you don't test well, because they look at the more of the whole person by getting letters of recommendation and having you write your own personal essay."

Although written essays and good recommendations can help, an SAT score is still a huge factor in determining college acceptance. That's why at many high schools students, often with help from their teachers, spend months preparing for the test. However, this year they were thrown for a loop, when the College Board announced it was going to drastically change the SAT.

The focus of the test is changing--less of those annoying dots and more wrist action. The new SAT correlates more with the three Rs: reading, writing and arithmetic. The main change is that a perfect score is now 2,400. That's compared to the traditional 1,600. The original verbal portion of the test has been revamped with the elimination of analogies, and the addition of a writing section, complete with a student-written essay. In addition to answering several multiple-choice questions, students have 35 minutes to complete an original essay on a given topic. A lot hinges on the essay. It's a major part of the 800-point writing section.

"The essay you have to write will add an extra 30 minutes to the exam, so it will be three hours and 30 minutes long. Then you have to read a topic and write a quick essay in a short time that's supposed to offer proof for the statement you're making," Erkmann said.

The math section will be harder and cover material that many juniors may not have completed.

"Students will probably not see as good a performance in the math section if they have not yet completed Algebra II," Erkmann said.

Another significant difference is in the scoring on the SAT. The writing section will be evaluated by people, creating the potential for scoring subjectivity. The College Board assures all SAT takers this will not be the case. Evaluators go through a rigorous training program, in which they learn the exact standards and are tested in them to ensure essays are being graded as objectively as possible. The evaluator will weigh a score much more heavily on content and clarity, rather than grammar and vocabulary.

Changes are also being made to the SAT II subject tests. In addition to the original SAT, many colleges now require students take multiple SAT II's, which focus on subjects such as math or a foreign language. The SAT II for writing has been eliminated because it's been incorporated into the SAT. Finding a three subject-specific SAT II tests the student feels confident enough to take will not be easy.

Many students take the SAT both in their junior and senior year. The first time simply to get the experience, and the second, to try for the highest score possible. The decision of which test to actually submit presents an interesting dilemma to the class of 2006. This is the only year that most colleges will accept both the old and new format SAT. For many of these students, any former SAT preparations are no longer applicable.

Service High school Junior Niki Crawford said the new test is giving her plenty to do to prepare.

"I bought about 70 dollars worth of books to study," Crawford said.

With this new essay, it may take more than studying a few books to prepare for the test.

"Here at Service we have a few of the new SAT 2 booklets, and they have examples of how the SAT is going be worded," Erkmann said. "And they show an example and how the perfect score should be a 6, and an example of a 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and a 0. If you don't stay on the topic, you get a 0 automatically. Students should be getting a hold of this new information. They can get it at their school, or go online to www.collegeboad.com. Practice doing those."

Service High school Junior Kelsey Bertrand said that she doesn't mind all of the extra writing.

"I think it's a good thing, because for college you have to do a lot of writing, so it's a good thing for them to put the writing section on the test," Bertrand said.

Most high-schoolers' seem no more worried about the new SAT than they would be the old, for most kids remember one thing many adults don't: college-bound students have to take this test, it's inevitable.