College Board’s new SAT policies must be revised


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The SATs might now seem like eons ago for college students, but for those who are just now preparing for it, big changes are ahead. On Wednesday, College Board announced that the test would be redesigned to correspond more to the material learned in high school. Though the current test is not the best assessment of intelligence and college success by any means, some of the changes — particularly the decision to make the essay section optional — seem to be more of a step backward than one forward.

As someone who took the SAT almost three years ago, I do not agree that these tests have become “far too disconnected from the work of our high schools,” as College Board President David Coleman said at an event in Austin, Tex., according to CNN. Math will always be math. Reading will always encompass passage analyses and comprehension questions. There is only so much disconnecting possible.

For one, the optional essay is a big change that doesn’t seem to fix the disconnect — if anything, it seems to widen it. Writing as a form of communication will always be a part of one’s life, and the College Board’s decision to make the essay optional takes away a very integral element in the assessment-making process. The essay was first introduced as part of the SAT in 2005, and there were good reasons for it. Though it is true that the “reading and writing” sections will still be on the test, the act of sitting down and writing an essay in a pressured time period is something that a series of grammar questions can never truly replace. Moreover, if it does become an option and not a requirement, more students will be incentivized to skip one of the most crucial skills needed to be tested — not only as an indicator of college success, but also as a sign of future career success.

SAT test-taking strategies that have less to do with knowing the material and more with mastering the format of the test were also brought up as an issue that the new SAT design plans to address. Though there are certain test-taking strategies that the SAT does require, the tricks aren’t necessarily bad. Coleman reasoned that this new test would be “moving away from a need for test-taking tricks and strategies,” but requiring justifications for questions will not be much different because there’s strategy in explanations as well.

One of the arguments in support of changing the SAT includes reining in the culture of intense coaching and costly tutoring that the test has generated. Though this definitely points to good intentions, tests that college admissions officers rely so heavily will never diminish the tutoring business’s clientele. No matter the test format — whether it is simple multiple choice or a test geared more towards test-taking strategy — such tests will always generate anxiety and thus generate more profits for tutoring businesses. The AP tests are more about the justifications than just pure test-taking strategy, and there is an astronomical amount of profit being made off of students preparing for those. Would a new SAT with a few justification questions be any different?

Not all of these changes, however, are for the worse. The program to help low-income students with test prep and the inclusion of more online practice tests will certainly promise to revamp the test prep experience for the better. Yet the changes made to the content and substance of the test do not reflect well-designed or thought-out improvements. Thankfully, the new test will be released in the  spring 2016 — that’s plenty of time to refine and reconsider.

Valerie Yu is a sophomore majoring in biological sciences and English. “Point/Counterpoint” runs Fridays.