HOLLIS BROOKLINE HIGH SCHOOL 24 Cavalier Court Hollis, New Hampshire 03049 “The Cavaliers”

Richard D. Barnes, Principal Timothy E. Girzone, Assistant Principal Robert F. Ouellette, Assistant Principal

Telephone: (603) 465-2269 Fax: (603) 465-2157

December 2015 The New Hampshire Department of Education (NHDOE) has announced that, beginning in the 2015-16 school year, it will use the SAT as the statewide assessment test for juniors. Why make this change? The recently redesigned test is more focused and useful than ever before. The new SAT measures the skills and knowledge that colleges are looking for today. And it reflects what New Hampshire students are already learning in their classrooms. All students in the 11th grade will take the test for free on March 2, 2016. The state-sponsored test will not include the SAT Essay which is now optional. Students who wish to take the Writing portion of the SAT on March 2nd as well may do so for $11.50.

Important Highlights • • • •

The New Hampshire SAT test day is March 2, 2016. The SAT will be given at school during regular hours to all 11th-graders at no cost. The test will be the Redesigned SAT format. Students will register through their College Board account using a voucher. More details to follow.

The Redesigned SAT The SAT has recently been redesigned for greater focus, relevance, and transparency. The new SAT reflects what students are already learning in their classrooms, including the best of instruction in math, English language arts, science, history, and social studies. Learn About Key Content Changes to the SAT The assessment includes an Evidence-Based Reading and Writing section — which is composed of a Reading Test and a Writing and Language Test — and a Math Test. The SAT also includes the SAT Essay, which is optional, though some colleges may require it. The assessment takes 3 hours without the essay, or 3 hours and 50 minutes with the essay. Learn More About the SAT’s Structure and Timing The new SAT is scored on a 400- to 1600-point scale, not counting the SAT Essay, which is scored separately. The redesigned test reports new scores, including cross-test scores and sub scores that are designed to give more information about student readiness. Learn More About the SAT’s Score Structure

Scores The redesigned SAT Suite of Assessments’ new scores and score reports are powerful tools for promoting college readiness and college planning.

No Penalty for Guessing When students take an assessment in the redesigned SAT Suite, they simply earn points for the questions they answer correctly. This way, every score represents a best effort because students can give their best answer to every question — there’s no advantage to leaving any blank.

Score Reports Scores are reported through a new integrated score reporting portal. A single sign-in will grant access to score data from every assessment in the SAT Suite of Assessments.

Current Scores vs. New Students don’t have to take the SAT again just because it’s changing in March 2016. Most colleges plan to accept scores from both the current SAT and the redesigned SAT for a few years. The College Board will publish collegespecific policies, including their SAT Essay policies, so students can stay up to date. Of course, the current SAT and the redesigned SAT are two different tests with two different scoring structures. But there is no advantage to taking one test over the other because the College Board will publish concordance tables that will help colleges compare and interpret scores. Colleges will use these tables to make admission decisions. The concordance tables act as equalizers.

Using Score Choice Score Choice™ lets students choose which day’s SAT scores to send to colleges. Students can send a single day’s scores, or they can send scores of every SAT they’ve taken. The only thing students can’t do is send partial scores from different days. For instance, students can’t send their Math score from one test day and their Evidence-Based Reading and Writing score from another. Reminder: Every college has its own score-use practice — some require students to send every score. Many colleges consider the best one.

Testing with Accommodations If you’re a student with a documented disability, you may be eligible for accommodations when you take the SAT and other College Board tests. Accommodations must be approved by the College Board’s Services for Students with Disabilities for students taking the SAT (as well as other College Board tests including, but not limited to, the PSAT/NMSQT, PSAT 10, SAT Subject Tests, and AP Exams). School accommodations are not the same thing as College Board accommodations. Please contact Jennifer Anderson at [email protected] about requesting accommodations for the state-sponsored test in March 2016. Requests for accommodations on the March test must be submitted by January 13, 2016. Learn More About Requesting Accommodations

Prepare for the SAT To take advantage of these resources, you must create your accounts now. Sign up for both a College Board account and a Khan Academy account to personalize your practice. You’ll be able to link these accounts beginning in December 2015. If you already have an account, please do not create another one.

Access Free Practice from the College Board The SAT Suite of Assessments’ website offers sample questions, printable full practice tests, and more resources to help students get familiar with the SAT. Explore SAT Sample Questions and Practice Tests

Access Free Practice at Khan Academy® All students can access Khan Academy’s world-class personalized SAT practice resources for free. These interactive resources complement and reinforce the great work already happening in New Hampshire classrooms with official SAT practice questions and full-length tests. Teachers and students will also receive detailed information on student progress to guide next steps. Practice on Khan Academy’s Website

Free Practice on Your Phone Download our free app, Daily Practice for the New SAT. Answer a question a day on the app and get immediate feedback. Get the Free Practice App We understand this letter contains what may feel like an overwhelming amount of information. Please know we will continue to update you as we learn further information from the NH Department of Education and College Board. A Parent Informational Meeting will be held on Monday, January 11th at 6:30pm in the HBHS Auditorium. Counselors will be meeting with the students in CAVBlock the following week. Below please find a quick checklist of steps your student must take to prepare for the upcoming SAT.

Student Checklist  Create College Board account at https://www.collegeboard.org. If your student already has an established account, they should not create another.  Create Khan Academy account to be used to link scores and begin free practice for the SAT www.satpractice.org.  Download the Daily Practice for New SAT app at https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/sat/practice/daily-practice-app to their smartphone. By downloading the app, students can get instant practice test scoring through the Score and Scan feature https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/sat/practice/full-length-practice-tests.  Review PSAT/NMSQT scores and use to prepare for SAT (Update: College Board announced PSAT scores will be released to students on January 7, 2016. Schools should receive their paper score reports on January 21, 2016.)

Respectfully, HBHS Administration and Guidance Department