An essay? There's an ESSAY?!" Across America, the shocking news is being passed from teenager to teenager. The venerable SAT, as of March 2005, will include a new writing section with an essay requirement; students will be asked to take a position on a topic and then support that position with reasoning and examples. This section will also include multiple-choice questions that ask students to identify sentence errors and improve sentences and paragraphs. Bummer.
And if that isn't enough to, like, ruin your spring, the math section will be adding content from third-year college prep math (aka Algebra II). Instead of a maximum score of 1,600, the new SAT will now have a top score of 2,400, with a possible 800 points for each of three sections: critical reading (formerly known as verbal), math and writing.
"We're changing the SAT to better reflect what students do in their high school courses and to include writing, which is such a crucial skill for success in college and the workplace," explains Kristin Carnahan, the College Board's associate director, public affairs. "The new SAT will still measure the kind of reasoning skills needed for college, but it will be better aligned with high school coursework." On the good news side, Carnahan explains that the new SAT will eliminate the always-popular analogy questions, as they are of a type and format that students generally don't see in their high school classrooms. Sentence-completion questions, however, will remain, and there will be both short and long reading passages. For detailed information on how the new essay will be scored, students, parents and booksellers can go to www.collegeboard.com/newsat/hs/scoring. html.
The change in the math section came about, says Carnahan, because "most four-year colleges require three years of math and 70% of all high school students finish Algebra II (or the equivalent) by the end of their junior year. Of all college-bound students, 97% complete three years of math and 69% complete four or more years." On the plus side, quantitative comparison questions are now history—now that's a relief.
Responding to the Changes
It's not only the students who are taking note of the changes in the SAT. In newspapers across the country, journalists are taking a serious—and not-so serious—look at the anxiety felt by students over the new test. "Students Worry Handwriting to Affect SAT," headlined the Associated Press in early June. Back in April, USA Today proclaimed, "With SAT Changing, Questions Multiply," and the Alameda(Calif.) Times Star reported "SAT Mania Grips Students." And from the Philadelphia Inquirer (Apr. 19) came "New Is to the SAT as Fearful Is to... Students Who Will Be the First to Take the Test in an Altered Form."
With millions of high schoolers facing the unknowns of the new writing and math requirements, publishers have embraced the challenge with a wide range of books and innovative on-line support systems that should both ease their fears and raise their scores.
There is, of course, one publisher who quite literally does have all the answers—the College Board, whose titles are distributed by Henry Holt. The Official SAT Study Guide for the New SAT is "the only one with practice tests created by the test maker according to proprietary new SAT specifications," says David Justus, executive director, Readiness Programs. "Students can increase their understanding of the new SAT through detailed descriptions of the new math, reading and writing sections, and a chapter on the essay provides practice essay questions, exercises, sample essays and a scoring guide." This October title includes eight practice tests, and those who buy the book will receive free on-line scoring for the practice tests plus a discounted subscription to the College Board's Official SAT Online Course. This winter, the College Board will also be distributing more than four million free copies of its SAT Preparation Booklet to schools across the country. The booklet will include new SAT test directions, sample questions and a full-length practice test.
Several publishers aren't waiting for 2005 but are making preemptive strikes at the student market. "We've made a commitment to being first to market with complete, accurate information about the new tests," says Kaplan publisher Maureen McMahon. Kaplan published 12 SAT titles in May and June for both the old (still being given till January 2005) and new tests. Most of them, including Kaplan New SAT 2005, Kaplan New SAT Math Workbook and Kaplan New SAT Writing Workbook "went right on the BookScan Study Aids bestseller list," reports McMahon. "Booksellers were supportive of this strategy, especially when we showed them how our different cover designs would make it easy for consumers to determine which guide would be appropriate for their needs."
Kaplan is supporting this effort with a $250,000 marketing campaign that includes a postcard mailing to 75,000 students with an offer for free pizza for SAT study groups. "We've all seen how reading groups can motivate adults to read more," McMahon explains, "and I think study groups have a similar appeal for students. In a recent survey, 37% of Kaplan SAT students told us they liked to study with friends or fellow students, so supporting these groups seems like a great way to help students prepare for tests. Our program will help students plan effective study groups, and then reward them with a pizza and soda!"
The Princeton Review plans to publish six books on the new SAT and PSAT. The just-released 11 Practice Tests for the New SAT & PSAT has 10 full-length practice tests for the new SAT and one for the new PSAT. Buyers of the book, reports publisher Tom Russell, "get a big bonus: free online help that includes personalized diagnostic score reports for each practice test in the book, updates on the new tests and advice on the new essay requirement." Princeton Review has also developed an online practice essay-grading service, "LiveGrader," which offers not just grading but detailed reports on how students can improve their writing to get a higher score. And October's Cracking the New SAT, promises Russell, "will help students think like the people who wrote the tests."
Barron's, reports marketing director Lonny Stein, will publish five new or revised SAT titles between now and December, including How to Prepare for the New SAT 22nd Edition (Oct.) by Sharon Weiner Green and Ira Wolf. Says Stein, "We believe that prepping for the test will become even more crucial in the future, as students need to review two to three years' worth of English and math material, and the addition of the essay-writing assignment will require an entirely new set of study aids." As a result, Barron's will be adding a new section that "will give students a real handle on what it takes to write a superior essay"—a chapter with six model essays on one theme, one for each possible grade level.
Weighing the Challenges
"The biggest challenges in today's test prep category," says Schaum's editorial director Barbara Gilson, "are masses of competition and the difficulty in distinguishing one's own publishing program from the herd. The change in the SAT will be challenging, but can represent a big opportunity for those who move quickly to fill the void. We made a big early move by bringing out Laurie Rozakis's SAT 2400!: A Sneak Preview of the New SAT English Test (McGraw-Hill) in May, but it's really paid off—it's already on the BookScan list and is an Amazon test prep bestseller." Gilson sees the same payoff ahead for McGraw-Hill's SAT I by Christopher Black and Mark Anestis, a June release that features five practice tests and 20 practice essays, as well as eight critical reasoning skills that promise to make solving any problem quicker and easier.
Sourcebooks, reports publisher Dominique Raccah, has just published its first-ever SAT title, the Fiske New SAT Insider's Guide by Edward Fiske and Bruce Hammond. According to Raccah, the authors "surveyed hundreds of students on what really worked in preparing for the SAT and found that self-study was the single most effective method for raising your score. The pricey classes, courses and tutors that are relentlessly marketed to anxious students—and their parents—had little effect." She calls the book "a behind-the-scenes 'what's best for your kid' approach. It's very different from other test prep companies, who advocate one approach to beating the test."
Not everyone believes that being first is necessarily best. "The effect of the new SAT is difficult to assess this early on," says Wiley senior acquisitions editor Greg Tubach. "We'll monitor closely what the market is demanding and respond in a timely fashion to those demands. Indiscriminately pushing new SAT test prep products out the door for the sole reason of being first to market might have short-term benefits, but the long-term repercussions could be great; if those initial products aren't satisfactory, the consumer isn't very likely to trust that publisher's products in the future." Tubach has no doubts that CliffsTestPrep SAT I/PSAT by Jerry Bobrow (Jan.) will be up to the challenge.
"Test takers," notes Thomson Peterson editor-in-chief Del Franz, "can be divided into two groups: those serious about test prep, who often start a plan of action months in advance, and those who wait until the last minute and just want something quick and easy. Our new ARCO titles, like the ARCO Panic Plan for the SAT (Jan.) are geared toward the student who opts for the quick and easy route, while the Peterson's titles are for the more serious student looking for comprehensive preparation." Coming in November, Peterson's Ultimate New SAT Tool Kit 2005 offers online access to personalized one-on-one math tutoring and instant scoring for the student's practice test essay. Also included are "Take It to the Next Level" sections, which offer difficult questions for students setting their sights on scores in the highest percentiles. The publisher is also offering book purchasers a discounted rate on its new SAT EssayEdge product, which provides online access to an expert who will review and critique a practice essay written by the student.
At Learning Express in New York City, editorial director director Karen Wolny says, "As an online educational publisher, we keep a close eye on how our book program complements our online platforms. How to Write Great Essays, for example, is a fall title that focuses specifically on the writing section of the New SAT. In January, we're publishing Acing the New SAT, which will include individual passwords giving students access to our online SAT courses, where one of the features is instant scoring on their practice essays. It's a logical and fluid compatibility between books and deeper online features that I believe is how people live and learn in the real world."
At NAL, executive editor Tracy Bernstein says, "We're responding to the new SATs very specifically with a brand-new kind of test prep guide"—The RocketReview Revolution: The Ultimate Guide to the New SAT by Adam Robinson, coming in October. "The biggest challenge the new SAT presents," she explains, "is how to test students on the writing section—when you practice writing an essay, who's going to score it? Our book not only includes the best advice about tackling the essay but also provides a link to an essay-scoring feature on the author's Web site (www.rocketreview.com), which instantly scores your essay and offers tips on improving it."
Beyond the SAT, New News
In the midst of all the hoopla over the new SAT, there are still tests to be prepped, philosophers to be deciphered and college years to be navigated—often in new and, publishers hope, inspiring ways.
Perigee's new Students Helping Students series was originally published by Natavi Press, a small New York City—based house. Perigee, says editor Michelle Howry, saw enormous potential in the books, "which are written by college students and recent grads, who are close enough to the issues to know what really matters to students and how to get the information across in a way they'll actually respond to." The series, which will feature new packaging and a new logo, will launch in May with three titles: Navigating Your Freshman Year by Alison Lombardo, Getting Through College Without Going Broke by Theresa Fives and Have No Career Fear by Ben Cohen-Leadholm, Rachel Skerritt and Ari Gershon-Kessler. "Our approach to this kind of publishing comes from the sensibility of the rest of our prescriptive nonfiction list," says Perigee publisher John Duff. "We're not trying to compete directly against the well-established test prep and college guide publishers, but rather we're seeking to bring a new voice and perspective to this area."
Gallopade International, located in Peachtree, Ga., is expanding its Experience line with The Ohio Experience (Sept.) for grades k—5 and The Georgia Experience (Jan.) for grades k—5 and 8. "Unlike the competition," says company v-p Sherry Moss, "the Experience program is 100% correlated to each state's social studies standards. There aren't 160 pages of 'stuff' for teachers and students to wade through to find the relevant information; it's all relevant. Our student workbooks are 50% information and 50% reinforcing activities, and schools that have implemented this program have increased test scores tremendously—some by 400%."
Princeton Review's new Know It All! Guides series combines state test prep and curriculum lesson review that can be used in all 50 states. "For state test prep guides," says Russell, "the major challenge is positioning them for the teacher market. Editorially, the challenge has been developing product that does double duty: raises test scores and learning/school grades." Know It All! Math and Know It All! Reading(published in editions for grades 3—5, 6—8 and 9—12) are now in stores.
Instead of maintaining two competing product lines of AP books (Peterson's and ARCO), Thomson Peterson's has selected the best of the Peterson's AP Success series and ARCO's AP Master series and created a new series offering books from both imprints. Six titles are planned for January, including Peterson's AP English Language & Composition, Peterson's AP U.S. History and Peterson's AP Calculus AB & BC. And for thinkers of all ages, Wiley's new within your grasp series focuses on philosophers and psychologists who are mainstays in both school curricula and popular culture. The series, which offers easy access to these brainiacs in fewer than 100 pages, debuted last month with Kierkegaard within your grasp, Nietzsche within your grasp and Plato within your grasp.
Prefer Shakespeare to philosophers? Two publishers have just the series for aficionados of Avon's Bard. San Diego, Calif.—based Bermond Press will debut its vividly designed 1-Hour Guidebooks line next month with Gordon Faustberg's Hamlet: The 1-Hour Guidebook. The look of the series, reports v-p Gretchen Gordon, was a top priority: "How can anyone learn from a study guide that looks like a repair manual? We wanted to present the plays with the respect and reverence they deserved." In addition to graphic character charts and illustrated scene summaries, the books feature a CD of actors reading the play in its entirety. Romeo & Juliet and Macbeth will join the line by the end of this year, with four more of the Bard's best due in 2005.
Barron's will launch its LiveWire Shakespeare series next spring with LiveWire Shakespeare: Romeo & Juliet and LiveWire Shakespeare: Macbeth. These graphic novel renditions of Shakespeare's plays will, in Stein's words, "make Shakespeare accessible to all students, regardless of their reading level."
In the next 10 years, reports Schaum's Gilson, America will be looking for nearly two million new teachers. In 35 states, the PRAXIS exam will be used to certify pedagogues. McGraw-Hill's PRAXIS I and IIby Laurie Rozakis (Dec.) is the first of an ongoing series that, says Gilson, "is part of McGraw-Hill's overall move into the test prep category."
Getting That College Sheepskin
"The math bodes well for the category of college-bound students," says Princeton Review's Russell. "Over the next five years, the number of high school graduates will continue to rise, and the percentage applying to college is expected to continue to increase, as will college costs." The biggest challenge in this area of publishing, he tells PW, is creating books that stay current, particularly in the face of information available on the Internet. "The average high school counselor serves 500 students, so getting guidance and information about the college admission process is tough." Princeton Review's answer: the 13th edition of The Best 357 Colleges (Aug.), which gathers information and opinions from some 110,000 students.
"In the college guide category," says Thomson Peterson's Franz, "the challenge is one of adaptability and personalization." The 2005 edition—the 35th—of Peterson's Four-Year Colleges offers free access to Thomson Peterson's online college financial database, BestCollegeDeals, which allows students and parents to calculate the actual cost—based on their financial situation—that they can expect to pay at any of 1,857 colleges. They can also find any special deals or discounts that may available to them at a particular institution, as well as 3,700 special discounts at nearly 1,000 colleges.
Published for more than 60 years, The College Board College Handbook (2005 edition out this month) is back with its annual update of every accredited four- and two-year college in the U.S. The publisher's revised edition of Sarah Myers McGinty's The College Application Essay (Aug.) includes a new chapter for parents on how they can (and can't) help their child with that all-important essay. A new addition to the publisher's roster, The College Board Book of Majors (Aug.), describes more than 900 majors and lists which schools offer each major and at what degree level.
According to Gilson, "Big college directory sales are declining, because the category is covered more and more by online and Internet-based product, in-school online programs and college Web sites. Subjective and discursive guides will continue to absorb more of this audience's attention, and customers will seek out targeted and niche guides." TheCollege Matters Guide to Getting into the Elite College of Your Dreams by Jacquelyn Kung, Melissa Dell and Joanna Chen (McGraw-Hill, Sept.) offers guidance from 12 students who got into their dream schools—Harvard, Brown, MIT, Stanford, Northwestern, Georgetown and Yale. For specialized advice on how to pay for that dream college, Prentice Hall's just-released The Scholarship Book 11th Edition includes a CD-ROM and provides thousands of Internet links to private-sector sources of financial aid as well as a search function that matches a student's qualifications to financial aid sources.
"There's tremendous sensitivity among everyone in this market because there's so much money and prestige at stake," notes Raccah at Sourcebooks. "Whether it's a college or university, a testing bureau or a corporation serving these students, even the lightest criticism is seen as near catastrophe, and the faintest praise will end up in their next PR brochure. We particularly see that with our U.S. News & World Report Ultimate College Guide [2005 edition due in October], since its rankings are often a hot button for schools. Taking a stance—actually saying something substantive and opinionated—requires a steely resolve. On the flip side, it's often largely publicity-worthy, which is not such a bad thing." Also new and noteworthy from Sourcebooks are the recently published 21st edition of Fiske Guide to Colleges and U.S. News & World ReportWhat College Really Costs (Feb.).
For aspiring legal eagles, two new titles might just crack the application case. Richard Montauk, founder of Degree of Difference, a Philadelphia firm that has helped thousands of applicants get into the world's top law schools, demystifies that process in How to Get into the Top Law Schools (Prentice Hall); and Susan Estrich, the first female president of the Harvard Law Review, first woman to run a presidential campaign, and now professor of Law and Political Science at USC, lends her unique perspective to the application process in How to Get into Law School (Riverhead, Sept.).
And how young is too young to start planning for college? "It's not unusual for eighth graders and their parents to meet with guidance counselors to plan their high school careers with an eye to the college admissions game," reports Stein at Barron's. To meet their needs, the publisher has just released Head Start to College Planning by Susan Chiarolanzio. "While the author wisely advises parents not to become too college-focused too early in their child's life," says Stein, "she does recognize that by ninth grade, parents and students need to consider pre-college academic planning, including developing a child's study skills, coping with standardized tests and understanding the importance of non-academic activities in a student's life."
Looking Ahead
While the new SAT is clearly the big news in this arena, publishers are looking ahead to the needs of a new generation of test-takers and trying to discover how best to carve out a section of this competitive market. "We're continuing to develop more sophisticated CD-ROMs and online components to accompany our books," says Kaplan's McMahon. "Customers like the portability of books, but they are also attracted to technological features that offer instant feedback and customized study plans based on practice test results."
Says Raccah at Sourcebooks, "The information needs in this category will continue to grow as college admissions continue to get more competitive. Most colleges are reporting record levels of applications for the last two years, despite major tuition increases and a soft economy. We suspect that online admissions applications processes have made it significantly easier for students to expand their college application pool, so there are more applications for the same number of first-year spots. Expect college guides to continue to grow as students and their parents keep looking for the right school. I also think for the next year there will continue to be a flurry of publishing around the new SAT while publishers search for the right formula. You can see it now with the variety of books out there."
Wiley's Tubach cautions against test prep publishers "trying to be all things to all people, meaning they publish to every possible test and consumer demographic rather than focusing their best efforts on a specific range of tests and specific demographics. At CliffsNotes and CliffsTestPrep, we're focusing on AP tests, high school exit exams and teacher certification tests; these test-takers more readily identify with the brand and create the most obvious fit between the brand and its core consumers." And Franz at Thomson Peterson sees the biggest challenge as "getting beyond the one-size-fits-all mentality to build books adaptable to individual needs. No two test-takers are exactly alike and no two students go about the college selection process using the same criteria or procedures. With the increased competition from online products that offer interactivity and personalization, print publishers need to create products that are flexible and adaptable to the needs of individual."
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Who would have guessed that some of the 19th century's top sellers would become the hottest SAT vocabulary study aids in the 21st. "Gothic romantic novels," reports Kaplan publisher Maureen McMahon, "have a very high number of words found on the SAT. Hemingway, on the other hand, probably wouldn't be a good choice." Kaplan's first venture into classics for the SAT was last January's Frankenstein: A Kaplan SAT Score-Raising Classic. "We knew from the first instant that this was one of those ideas that would really work—we're constantly getting feedback from teachers about novels they want us to do." Wuthering Heights and Tales of Edgar Allan Poe are due in January.
Last year we wrote about a new entrant in the college guide field, the Pittsburgh, Pa.—based College Prowler ("Dollars and Sense," Aug. 4, 2003), which published its first titles in February 2003. Not only is this entrepreneurial publisher still going strong, but its title output is set to double in the next three months, with 100 new titles being added to the original 100 guides (which will be completely revised and tripled in length). Unlike other college guidebooks, each College Prowler title covers one specific college, featuring insider details (top 10 and best/worst lists, "did you know" stats); detailed reference information on school organizations, local hotels, etc.; "inside scoop" sections on local slang, urban legends, academic traditions; and more. The guides—which retail for $14.95 and average 160 pages in length—are all student written (by a student at the particular college), student edited (in the publisher's offices) and then returned to a three-person "bounce-back team" at the college to insure the book's accuracy. And Prowler's formula is clearly working: among the media hits to date are print features in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, Reader's Digest, and many other national newspapers; and TV segments on CNN Live, CBS and NBC. In addition, the company received honorable mention in Fast Company magazine's "Fast 50" international competition. In the words of company CEO Luke Skurman, "Every day I'm more and more excited by the fact that we're helping several thousand students and parents become more confident in the college selection process." For more information, check out 
