CollegeBoard just announced changes to the SAT format that will be implemented in 2016. Currently, the SATs consist of three main components: reading comprehension, writing, and math, with each section allotted a maximum of 800 points.
The mandatory writing sample, which is a timed writing response to a written prompt the students have never seen before, is now optional. With an entire section gone, the SAT will revert back to its original scoring system with a maximum score of 1600, with 800 points possible in the reading and math sections.
Also, the math section will now have sections where students are not allowed to use a calculator. Based on these changes, many are arguing that these two sections will be slightly less challenging for students.
However, the reading comprehension section will focus less on literary passages and analysis of historical documents. There will be a greater importance placed on in-depth analysis of both fiction and non-fiction writing samples as opposed to before when students mainly analyzed literary (instead of rhetorical) techniques.
The big change that is calling into question the rigorous connotation the SATs used to have, is that they will no longer dock points for guessing. So, if you don’t know the answer to a question, students are now given the luxury to take wild guesses because wrong answers will no longer negatively affect your scores.
Is this entirely fair? Think back to when we were high school juniors – preparing for the SATs included countless amounts of timed essays in class, long nights of studying SAT vocabulary words, and reviewing the geometry formulas we thought we would never need again after freshman year.
With this new format, it appears the College Board is making it easier to attain higher SAT scores, thus giving more students the opportunities to get into more prestigious institutions. In a time when it seems that standardized test scores are all a student is worth to college admission teams, College Board is facilitating better scores for students.
What does this say about our education system? With an entire section being deemed “optional” and the math section simplified so problems can be done without a calculator, do we place more importance on test scores and statistics than actual learning? 
The President of the College Board, David Coleman, released a statement saying, “our SATs have become disconnected from the work in our high schools.” He goes on to say that students no longer have a need to learn the “obscure” vocabulary words previously featured on the exam and that many other parts have become outdated as well.
Since when have important skills like writing become outdated? Writing skills are absolutely essential all throughout college, and the fact that the writing section in particular is cut is problematic to me.
At UMass Boston in particular, writing skills are particularly stressed in all classes. All English 101 courses focus on fostering these skills, and in order to prepare high school students adequately for college writing assignments, this section is absolutely essential and should not be cut.
So what brought on these changes? Last year, 1.8 million students took the ACT while 1.7 million the SAT, so it is possible that the College Board is thinking less of changing the tests to benefit students and more to compete with the popular ACTs, which feature math, science, writing, and reading sections.
Coleman released another statement saying, “It is time for the College Board to say in a clearer voice that the culture and practice of costly test preparation that has arisen around admissions exams drives the perception of inequality and injustice in our country.”
Do I necessarily agree with this? It seems like the College Board, in attempts to outpace the ACT, is changing their format to cater to high school curricula. In doing so, are they adequately preparing high school students for college?
Catering the tests to meet the needs of high school students shows a marked degradation of our education system. If you ask me, that is reprehensible (SAT definition: shameful). Pushing students in high school fosters the skills needed to succeed in college, but the new SAT format seems to be doing just the opposite.