As a result of the Covid- 19 pandemic, several organizations including schools, workforces, businesses have made changes to their protocols to accommodate to the current situation.  Last Tuesday, the College Board announced that they will be changing the design and procedure of the test.  

The SAT was used as a prominent tool in college decision making.  Important scores were taken into consideration by the majority of colleges in the United States.  A movement starters in previous years where colleges were beginning to instill a test- optional test policy in their application process.  

Then, with the rise of the Coronavirus pandemic, students were unable to take the test in person and report their scores; so, the majority of colleges enacted a test- optional test policy.  According to a non- profit organization, The National Center for Fair & Open Testing, approximately 80% of four- year universities have gone test optional since the beginning of the pandemic.  

In previous years, the SAT lasted three or four hours and was taken on paper.  While the test will still be scored on a 1600 scale and contain majority multiple choice content, the test will be moved online and will be shortened to two hours.  Students will still be required to take the test in a test- setting such as a school, and will not be permitted to take it alone at home.  

“I think it’s a good thing that the College Board changed the test.  Even though my class had the test optional policy, I still chose to take the test. It was extremely stressful and after four hours, every student starts to lose stamina which could lead to them not doing as well; and I do not think that is fair” said Hills student, Dream Maywether.  

The College Board’s decision has been reflected positively from critics who claim the test had too many flaws which were affecting the application process in the past.  Critics believed that the test was extremely stressful and led to hours of tutoring and hundreds of dollars spent unnecessarily.  

Critics have argued that in most cases, the SAT test was only a reflection of how much money each student was willing to spend to earn their score.  

“I believe that the SAT test is a tool that reflects a family buying their child’s college acceptance. The majority of students who do not do well on the SAT are simply not good test takers, and did not pay hundreds of dollars to have a tutor correct that issue” said Dream Maywether. 

The College board will digitize and shorten their tests for 2024. The reason for the time gap between now and then is unclear, however professionals guess that it is due to the processing and preparation that goes into re- designing the test and shifting it online. 

Photo Credits: USA Today