The Scholastic Assessment Test, more commonly known as the SAT, will be given in a new form in May of 2016 with the goal of accurately representing current high school curriculums and skills necessary for success in college and life.
This new SAT will revert to its pre-2005 scoring system of 1600 points, the sum of one math section and one reading section each worth 800 points. The 800 point writing section will be made optional, also shaving 45 minutes off the testing period for a total duration of three hours. This also adds to the objectivity of the test and avoids any possible subjective scoring.
“I feel like it’s necessary to show ability in writing. However, I think it’s stupid to have it be a standardized question since not everyone writes the same way,” Parish Episcopal School senior Avery Higham said.
Changes being implemented in this new test are meant to unify standardized testing and the common core of high school curriculums, rather than it being a separate entity with its own preparation and skill set. The infamous obscure vocabulary words and analogies will be eliminated in favor of questions that can be answered based on paragraph context and critical thinking, not prior knowledge. This switch will reduce the amount of out of school preparation necessary.
“The SAT is supposed to show what you got out of your schoolwork. It’s not supposed to be the schoolwork,” College Board president David Coleman said in a recent article of The Atlantic.
There has been much debate over out of school SAT preparation and whether or not the playing field is even, since wealthier families will be able to afford the best practice classes and materials. The switch to a curriculum based test is meant to eliminate unnecessary advantages.
Alignment with high school common core also means less testing strategy. The pre-2016 SAT has a .25 point guessing penalty, with no point deduction for leaving the question blank. If a student does not know an answer, they have to decide whether they’re confident enough in their guess to risk the deduction or if they’re better off not answering at all.
“Students may interpret it as easier,” Newtown High School guidance counselor Deidre Croce said. “I think it’s more that you’re being prepped within the school day towards it.”
The timing of the new SAT release puts the class of 2017 in a difficult position in terms of preparation, and whether or not they should practice for the old SAT in March or the new one starting in May. The new SAT has limited study material, and those who choose to take it have to deal with the possible bugs of a new test.
“There’s no harm in taking both,” Croce said. “My goal is to find the best way for you guys to get the best score, so if that means taking the ACT, that’s what we always recommend, taking both tests. So, I would take them both in all honesty.”
These new changes won’t change the fact that standardized testing is slowly losing relevance as a college application factor in general. More schools are omitting test scores from their admission process and allowing students to apply without them.
“I recently went on many college tours, and as you said, test scores didn’t seem to be as important to them. I feel that SAT and ACT scores don’t always accurately represent a student, so I’m glad schools are paying more attention to things like GPA and college essays,” NHS junior Riley Smith said.
A complete list of colleges that don’t require standardized test scores can be found on fairtest.org.