An altered rite of passage for US teens

"With unfamiliarity comes uncertainty," says Milliken.

Kaplan Test Prep and Admissions has seen a 78 percent jump in the number of students taking its free practice test, says Jennifer Karan, national director for SAT and ACT programs. Also, for the first time ever more juniors than seniors have been taking the prep class.

Revenues are up in all segments of the test-preparation market, says J. Mark Jackson, senior analyst at Edventures, a market research firm, including classes, online materials, and in particular printed SAT study materials.

Teachers in high schools as well as prep courses report a new emphasis on writing skills of late, with a particular focus on effective time management for the short persuasive essay. Kaplan's class teaches students to divide their time carefully to include an understanding of the question, planning, and proofreading, as well as writing itself, according to Karan.

She says the firm also highlights the relative importance of specific math skills to the overall test score. Triangles, for example, "are worth an incredible number of points," she says.

Some students are viewing the new exam with confidence. It has caused little consternation at the elite, all-girls Baldwin School in Bryn Mawr, Pa, where SAT scores are traditionally well above average and where tuition is just under $20,000 a year.

Director of college counseling Pam Fetters explains, "We have always had a very writing-intensive curriculum," adding that virtually all students traditionally took the old SAT II writing test, which many consider the model for the new essay section.

Like others who work with high schoolers, she views test scores as but one component of the college admissions process.

But there's no denying that no matter how spiffy a student's résumé, numbers talk.

"The emphasis [on test scores] is not misplaced," says Sarwat Iqbal, whose daughter Zarah, a junior at Baldwin, is set to take the new SAT Saturday. A strong SAT score can positively affect everything that follows in the college admissions process, she says.

But some students have reached the point where they're ready to be done with the pretest jitters and simply take the exam.

Tom McLaughlin says he's more of a numbers guy and less a whiz with words. That's why he practiced writing essays this spring. Despite the extra practice, however, he remains worried about the time limit within which he must write on the test.

"But you try to pace yourself," he says. His chief concern at the moment is getting a good night's sleep on Friday. The new test, he predicts, "may not be without fault, but overall, it will be OK."

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