Spencer Hu and AP
shu2@uwyo.edu
Few freshmen at the University of Wyoming in recent years have taken the SAT exam, and College Board officials wish to see the pendulum swing the other way.
Facing waning popularity,, administrators of the SAT decided to make changes to the 80-year-old college admissions exam.
College Board President David Coleman announced the revision under the hope more opportunities can be created for students.
A fee waiver will be available for eligible students desiring to take the exam, designed to alleviate the cost barriers many low-income college hopefuls face.
“The real news today is not just the redesigned SAT, but the College Board’s renewed commitment to delivering opportunity,” Coleman said on the College Board website news release.
The board will also partner with Khan Academy in order to produce publicly accessible SAT test prep materials. These test materials are projected to be available by spring 2015.
Sal Khan, founder of Khan Academy, said in the press release he wanted to correct an “imbalance” between students who cannot afford test prep materials.
Shelley Dodd, Director of Admissions at UW, said the new test could have an effect on how students are admitted.
“What we’re finding is that when we look at all three of these components—the GPA, the high school rigor and the test scores—that’s basically what we assess students on in terms of admissibility.”
Content changes will be the most noticeable aspect, according to the press release. Coleman said the goal is to build on successful aspects of the exam, while attempting to make it “more clear and open.”
The revised test will have three sections: evidence-based reading and writing, math and an essay portion. The test will return to the 1600 point scale of the past.
The new vocabulary on the revised test will be updated to be relevant and applicable for use in college. There will be a heavy emphasis on evidence-based reading and writing, in which the student will have to cite specific passages of a reading to back up their claims.
The math section will draw from a shallower pool of topics, more applicable to college readiness. Readings and sources presented in the text will involve real world context or derive from historical documents.
There will also be changes in the grading method. Wrong answers on the current version would result in point deduction. In the new grading method, only right answers will be graded while points will not be deducted for guesses or wrong answers.
ACT President Jon Erickson said he was not impressed with the changes.
“I didn’t hear anything new and radical and different and groundbreaking, so I was a little left wanting, at least at the end of this first announcement,” Erickson said in a phone interview with the Associated Press.
Bob Schaeffer, education director at the National Center for Fair & Open Testing, or FairTest, said in an AP interview he thinks the partnership with Kahn would not likely make a dent in the preparation market and the test is unlikely to be much better.
The new SAT will first be administered in 2016.
