The SAT has been offered since 1926. Millions of students have taken the SAT, and it has undergone many changes throughout the years. However, the College Board recently announced a shocking message that the optional essay portion of the SAT and the subject tests will not be offered for students to take anymore because they have lost influence.
The optional essay was initially offered because it demonstrated excellence, and it gave a better chance of being admitted into a better university like an Ivy League. However, the optional essay was not effectively reflecting the students’ writing abilities, so colleges haven’t been giving much importance to them. Most schools have even removed the requirement to take the optional essay because it isn’t really skill based. The AP Literature and AP Language exams better reflect one’s skill in writing essays, and they have a greater impact on whether or not a student will be admitted into a given university. The AP exam has more challenging and difficult questions as well as more complex essays to write which better reflect the abilities of students.
Similar to the optional essay, the subject tests are not being offered for students to take anymore. The subject SAT tests were much shorter than the normal SAT, and a maximum score yielded 800 points. They are strictly focused on one subject such as math, literature, biology, physics, and chemistry. There were a whopping 20 subject tests in total. However, the subject tests weren’t nearly as difficult as the AP exams. This is because the AP exam is a long, three hour exam and very gruesome in nature, featuring challenging questions with a lengthy, free response section. Even though it was difficult to perform well on these subject tests, universities found the AP exam far more outstanding and meaningful.
The College Board will continue to administer the essay portion till June of 2021 where the last cohort of students will write the final essay prompt ever to be administered. As for the subject tests, the College Board is stopping it immediately. Only international students have the option of continuing to take it till June of this year. The reason being is that other countries may use the subject test scores for a wide variety of purposes. For those that had their tests cancelled due to these new policies, the College Board will refund all the charges back to your account.
Due to the pandemic, the College Board is also making changes to the SAT so that it can be taken digitally. They want to make it more open to students because not everyone is free to take the test right not due to the pandemic. Some states have been facing lockdowns and not everyone has access to take the test which is why they want to provide a test that is more suitable to an online environment.
The College Board has implemented these significant changes in an effort to modernize its program. By removing the subject test and writing portion of the SAT, it can focus more on improving its core products — the SAT and its AP exams. As the pandemic rages on in our nation, the college admissions process has changed tremendously and who knows what further changes may be coming our way.
