SATs make biggest changes in 30 years

Changes for the SAT college entrance exam have a new, revamped version, which debuted this March. “Personally, I am extremely pleased to see the SAT and PSAT eliminate the ‘penalty for guessing’ that existed in the previous version. I like being able to tell students that it’s okay to guess if they aren’t sure about an answer, just as they would do on any other exam they face,” said guidance counselor, Charlotte Utter. “Students should be aware that results will take longer to come in this spring, so it may be wise for students to also take the ACT. This will allow students to go into the summer with results for both tests and spend more time studying for whichever test better reflects their strengths. Then they can take that test one more time in the fall,” said Utter. “It is hard to know just yet how these changes are going to affect our students,” said other guidance counselor, Wendy Hewitt. “I like the fact that there are only four choices for the multiple choices questions instead of five. It also makes sense that they are using more everyday words rather than large words that no one has ever heard of.” In addition to content changes, the SAT has returned to a top score of 1600, from the former 2400. As mentioned, there will no longer be a penalty for guessing. “It was probably necessary for them to make some changes. More and more students were opting to take the ACT instead. I think it was probably a necessary business decision,” said Hewitt. Both counselors said they are unsure how the changes that were made to the SATs will affect students. “At this point, I would recommend that students consider taking the ACT and the SAT until we see how the scores affect our students and until we see how schools (colleges and universities) are going to view the SATs,” said Hewitt.

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