It seems many Americans aren’t in the know about the significant changes in the Scholastic Aptitude Test over the last year.
Even most of those in charge, like our legislators, were “surprised to learn” the SAT (and ACT) even “change at all,” writes Michael Torres at the James G. Martin Center.
So … exactly what’s happened with the test?
First, the paper and pencil version of it is no more; everything is online in an “adaptive” assessment. This means test takers “are served easier or harder questions in later portions of each section based on their early performance.”
The College Board, creator of the SAT, notes in its Digital SAT Suite of Assessments that two main goals of its changes were to “make [the test] shorter and to give students more time per question.”
The “Reading and Writing” section of the test scaled back its 500-750-word reading passages to 25-150 words (“the length of a social-media post”) — with just one question per passage.
The rationale is that this “operates more efficiently when choices about what test content to deliver are made in small rather than larger units.”
This resulted in the elimination of significant portions of SAT’s previously used reading material, including “passages in the U.S. founding documents/Great Global Conversation subject area,” because of their “extended length.” Nevertheless, the College Board takes the view that the rigor of the Reading and Writing segment is unchanged. They claim in the assessment framework that the eliminated reading passages are “not an essential prerequisite for college” and that the new, shorter content helps “students who might have struggled to connect with the subject matter.”
The new SAT math section contains fewer questions, but allows the same amount of time for the assessment as before. Students also are permitted the use of calculators.
Interestingly, College Board Senior Vice President of College Readiness Assessments Priscilla Rodriguez asked Chalkbeat last year that if the SAT now is “largely optional […] how do we make it the most attractive option possible?”
IMAGE CAPTION & CREDIT: Cover of an SAT study guide; Chamoy./X