More than 30 high school administrators attended a seminar on the redesigned SAT, delivered by The Princeton Review vice-president Michael Gamerl, in Doha recently.
At the event, which was organised by ScorePlus Academics in association with the US Department of Commerce, Gamerl explained how the changes to the test would affect students.
Counsellors from 18 high schools in Qatar gathered at the event to find out about the future of SAT, an exam used for college admissions at US schools, including those based in Qatar.
The redesigned SAT will be administered for the first time in Qatar in May 2016, and will test more advanced skills than the current one.
The Princeton Review is a US-based test preparation and college admission services company.
Observing that the latest redesign is more substantial than past changes, Gamerl encouraged the counsellors to remind students of the remaining opportunities to take the current SAT next month and in January 2016.
Gamerl also answered queries from the counsellors on various related topics, such as how colleges would interpret scores for the new SAT. The current test is scored on a scale of 600 to 2,400, whereas the new one will be scored on a scale of 400 to 1,600.
Gamerl explained that after the first redesigned SAT is scored, College Board, the company that markets the SAT, will release concurrence tables to colleges that show new SAT scores and their equivalent ACT and older SAT scores.
“For those who are concerned for their students, our first preparation course for the new test begins on January 30, and will thoroughly prepare students for the May test,” said Pradeep Singhal, regional manager of ScorePlus.