For years, standardized testing has been colleges’ favorite way to consider a high school student for admission. One of these tests, and possibly the most commonly known and taken, is the SAT. This school year, the College Board has decided to change the format of the SAT and administered the first round of the new SAT on March 5, 2016.
When asked about whether the changes are really necessary, coordinator Olga Henderson stated that “it is difficult to say because this has been the second time that it [the SAT] has been changed. I don’t know what it’s going to be like until we start reading more about it.” When the new changes are mentioned to seniors who have taken the SAT before it was changed, there are mixed opinions. Senior Susan Gonzalez supported these new changes, saying that “the SAT needs to become more relevant to the way students are being taught and how they are learning.” Senior Denise Garcia, however, remains neutral on the topic. “I don’t know if this is the change I expected. Beyond ignoring the sciences and arts, the format has been
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Henderson recommended that “students should [still] take the essay” and she worries that “they [the students] don’t realize that some colleges may require it.” The duration of the essay increases from 25 minutes to 50 minutes and the prompt style also changes. While the old SAT asks students to write about a wide and general topic, the new SAT requires students to read and analyze a given passage. “The new essay allows students to do better because they have something to base their essay on and back up their work,” stated Gonzalez. However, Garcia presents a different opinion. “The passage addition may be another obstacle to lower-class students. Whereas the essay may have been their strong suit before because it was based on their own opinion, now they are expected to analyze ideas,” she