The College Board made two major changes to their platform which truly shakes up the world of college admissions:
- SAT Subject Tests will be discontinued starting immediately.
- SAT Writing Test will be discontinued.
There were five areas of Subject Tests, 20 tests in all under the categories of Math, English, Science, History and Languages. Fewer and fewer colleges were using these tests as entrance requirements, perhaps one of the incentives for dropping the Subject Tests. Some universities abroad found these tests to be redundant if a student took an AP exam in the same subject area. Students who signed on to take these exams will have their money returned.
International students will still take the May and June 2021 Subject Tests. It appears those will be the last tests taken.
Here are some roadblocks that will have to be addressed. For those students who do not have AP exams available, The College Board will have to find access for students hoping to study abroad, or for those students living abroad and needing to take an AP exam. It is hopeful that The College Board has the vision to look forward and will respond to this dilemma.
As far as the SAT Writing Essay, I don’t have as much concern about dropping this element from the SAT. Students will be able to provide to any school a graded writing sample, which, in truth will be of more authentic value to an institution of higher education. Many institutions stopped requiring the SAT Essay, as it did not add much to the student profile and the scoring could be a bit wonky.
The idea that the Subject Tests and SAT Essay are eliminated from the overall university profile of a student takes pressure off of a student and may ease some household pressure. There are still some questions for those international students that will have to be addressed. Hopefully, The College Board will have some answers in good time.
To see the announcement from The College Board go to: blog.collegeboard.org