The SAT is undergoing its biggest change in 30 years. The College Board says it is trying to make the test more relevant to high school curriculum.The redesigned SAT will ask students to apply a deep understanding of the few skills and content areas most important for college and career readiness. The questions will be more familiar to students because they’ll be modeled on the work of the best classroom teachers.

The redesigned SAT will be more focused on the few things shown by current research to matter most in college and career. When students open their test books in spring 2016, they’ll find questions asking them to support their answers with evidence, vocabulary they’ll use long after they’ve taken the exam, an essay prompt asking them to analyze a writer’s argument, and multistep problems requiring them to apply math in real-world contexts.

The content on the Redesigned SAT will be very similar to that which is on the ACT. The major difference is in how the concepts are tested and the steps students will have to take to solve problems correctly.Students will have to reason their way through this exam by tackling problems in a linear and sequential fashion; a student’s ability to process information quickly will be key.

Some students may find the Redesigned SAT more friendly: 1) There will not be a penalty for wrong answers, so students won’t have to worry about losing points for guessing incorrectly. 2) There will be only 4 answer choices instead of 5. 3) Students may be more familiar with some of the vocabulary tested, but they will need to know multiple definitions of those words.

Some students may find some of the changes more challenging: 1) Questions will require multiple steps to get to an answer. 2) The reading passages will include complex structure and vocabulary.

3) Foundational math skills will be more important. 4) Reasoning and critical thinking skills will be paramount. 5) There will be fewer sections on the Redesigned Test, but they will be longer in time than the current SAT.

The redesigned SAT will be 3 hours long with an additional 50 minutes given for the Essay.The College Board explains that their revamp in the SAT will "reward productive use of classroom time and a focus on rigorous course work."Rigorous course work will be, more than ever, the best preparation for the SAT. As test day approaches, students can use free College Board resources to get to know the exam and to build on their preparation with targeted review and authentic practice. The SAT will be offered on May 2 and June 6.