Doha: Over 30 high school administrators attended a seminar conducted by Michael Gamerl Vice-President The Princeton Review in the US.

A 25-year veteran of one of the world’s leading test preparation companies Gamerl presented the first national seminar ‘The School Counsellors Toolkit for Re-Designed SAT’ to address how changes to the test will affect students nationwide.

The event was organised by Score Plus Qatar in collaboration with Natalia Hernandez Commercial Specialist at the US embassy and Michael Zaug International Sales Director Penguin Random House at Warwick Hotel Doha.

Counsellors from 18 high schools met to find about the future of SAT an exam used for college admissions at North American universities including those based in Qatar Foundation and other countries such as the UAE Jordan Lebanon Egypt and Singapore.

Likely in response to increased competition in the standardised test market ETS makers of SAT are in the process of overhauling the test. The redesigned SAT will be administered for the first time in Qatar in May 2016 and test more advanced skills.

Gamerl began his career with The Princeton Review teaching SAT preparation as an undergraduate student in the US and has seen SAT evolve more than six times.

However he warned counsellors that the redesign is more substantial than past changes and encouraged them to remind students of the remaining opportunities to take the current SAT in December 2015 and January 2016. Imagine the current SAT is an apple and the new test is an orange” Gamerl said. “After January that apple is going away for good. For students who prefer apples we need to make sure they get their apples.”

Counsellors asked questions including a common one — whether schools will accept the current SAT for younger students especially those who graduate in 2017 or later.

Gamerl said there is no clear policy covering all American colleges and students need to research top choices schools to see if any limitation exists. As SAT scores are valid for five years those who take the current SAT may not be precluded.

He explained stark similarities between the redesigned SAT and the ACT: No penalty for wrong answers; four answer choices per question; more emphasis on advanced maths punctuation and reading comprehension among others. In many ways he said the new SAT will become “like the ACT but harder.”

Counsellors also asked how colleges will interpret scores for the new SAT. The current test is scored on a scale of 600 to 2400 whereas the new test will be scored on 400 to 1600.

Gamerl said after the first redesigned SAT is scored College Board the company that markets SAT will release concordance tables to colleges which show new SAT scores and their equivalent ACT and older SAT scores.

Counsellors tried out sample questions to experience the challenge their students will need to face. Many were surprised by the wide gap between the tested material and the content covered by school curricula.

Ritu Kalwani Executive Director Score Plus Middle East and India and alumnus of Babson College Boston US shared her vote of thanks with school administrators for participation.

She said schools are the real gatekeepers of colleges for their students and parents and advised: “Score Plus is well-equipped to prepare students for Re-Designed SAT using The Princeton Review’s learning resources and is pleased to support Qatar schools in their endeavour as they embrace this new exam model for their students’ admissions process.”

Participating counsellors were from Qatar Academy Doha Qatar Academy Sidra Doha College American School of Doha Qatar International School Gulf English School International School of London Birla Public School Debakey High School Al Khor International School ACS Doha American Academy English Modern School Doha Modern Indian School Georgetown University Al Hekma International School and The Lebanese School.

“For those concerned about their students our first preparation course for the new test begins on January 30 and will prepare students for the May test” said Pradeep Singhal Regional Manager ScorePlus.

The Peninsula