The ACT announced major changes to their college admissions test to begin in spring 2025 for online exams, and spring 2026 for in school-day testing. The new version will be shortened from three hours to two hours, will have 44 fewer questions with shorter reading and English passages, and the science section will be optional. However the new ACT will not be using an adaptive format like the new version of the SAT.
New and Noteworthy - SAT Going Digital Starting with the Connecticut School Day SAT this March 20223/4/2022
Collegeboard has announced that the SAT exam will move from the traditional paper and pencil format to a digital format. The format change is scheduled to roll out internationally next year and nationally in the U.S. in 2024. However, Connecticut will utilize the new digital version this March 23 - 25 and 29 - 30, 2022 for the Connecticut School Day SAT for current juniors in high school. The digital version will also shave an hour from the current version, bringing the reading, writing and math assessment from three hours to about two. Test-takers will be allowed to use their own laptops or tablets but they'll still have to sit for the test at a monitored testing site or in school, not at home. Calculators will be allowed on the entire Math section, and scores will be available in days, rather than weeks, still on the 400-1600 point-scale. They have designed the test software so that if there are battery or internet connectivity issues, the test will be saved and the student can return to it without losing their work. For a full description of what aspects of the new digital SAT will stay the same and what will be different, see Collegeboard's SAT Suite of Assessments https://satsuite.collegeboard.org/digital?SFMC_cid=EM669978-&rid=124890901 At one time essential for college applications, scores from admission tests like the SAT and rival ACT carry less weight today as colleges pay more attention to the sum of student achievements and activities throughout high school. There has also been criticism that the exams favor wealthy, white applicants and disadvantage minority and low-income students, and an increasing number of colleges have adopted test-optional policies in recent years, which let students decide whether to include scores with their applications. The Covid-19 pandemic accelerated the trend as testing sessions were canceled or inaccessible. However, the SAT and ACT are still deeply ingrained in the American high school experience. More than a dozen states require one of the exams to graduate, and prior to the pandemic 10 states plus Washington, D.C., had contracts with the College Board to offer the test during the school day for free to their students. Nearly 80% of bachelor’s degree-granting institutions are not requiring test scores from students applying for fall 2022, according to a December tally by the National Center for Fair & Open Testing, a watchdog group that opposes standardized testing. The group, known as FairTest, said at least 1,400 of them have extended the policy through at least the fall 2023 admissions cycle.  The College Board announced this week that it is ending the subject-area exams and the optional essay section of the SAT for college bound US students. Increasing numbers of students have been using the AP tests to demonstrate knowledge in areas such as biology, physics and world history, rather than the SAT subject tests. See the full article here.  The College Board recognizes that mastering computer science and the U.S. Constitution are keys to student future success in college and life.
Check out The New York Times article Check out an interesting article by Applerouth Tutoring Services. The University of Chicago joins other test-optional colleges but is one of the first leading research institutions to make this admissions option available. Jed Applerouth looks at SAT/ACT submission stats among other test-optional colleges and also notes UChicago's new tuition free policy for families with financial need.
University of Chicago Makes Bold Moves – Drops SAT/ACT Requirement   You’ve heard about the SAT and the ACT tests for college admission and wondered, “Which is better for me to take”? Traditionally, the SAT was seen as a test of ability, with a predominance of analytical reasoning questions, while the ACT was seen more as a test of achievement and academic content. However, the SAT has been revamped and the newly revised SAT will be offered for the first time in March of 2016. The format of the new SAT more closely resembles the ACT in that they are both broken into four sections of multiple-choice questions and offer an optional 30-minute writing test. However, the ACT has English, Math, Reading, and Science sections, whereas the new SAT has a Writing & Language, Reading, and two Math sections. The new SAT includes questions on science dispersed throughout the Writing & Language, Reading and Math sections. The Math section de-emphasizes geometry and now covers pre-algebra through basic trigonometry. Most of the obscure “SAT words” have been omitted and vocabulary is now tested in the context of reading passages. There are now four multiple choice options instead of five; you are no longer penalized for guessing; and the test is scored on a 1600 point scale instead of a 2400 point scale, with the essay being optional. Although starting in the spring of 2016 both the SAT and ACT will have optional essays, be sure to check the admission requirements of the colleges you are interested in as some schools may ask for a writing test score. The ACT remains more of a test of achievement, covering a wider range of knowledge of many concepts and also requires a more constant, rapid pace of responding. Historically, which test a person performed better on depended upon their individual learning style with no clear advantage of one over the other. However, at a recent IECA (Independent Educational Consultants Association) conference, many attendees seemed to lean toward opting for the ACT for this year’s juniors. They favored the ACT because it is a known quantity as opposed to the newly revised SAT, which will take a year or two to develop normative data. However, for Connecticut residents, just this month Governor Malloy announced that the SAT will be used in place of the SBAC exam currently required of juniors in CT public schools. The PSATs (practice SATs) are already offered to students in the high schools in the fall of 10th and 11th grade. Because it appears that in the spring of junior year, the new SAT will be provided at no charge to students, there may be an advantage for Connecticut students to taking the SAT. Neither the SAT nor ACT can be considered the better choice for all students. As with all college admissions planning, the individual student must consider the best fit for him or herself. College Docs works with students to sift through these choices and address their individual needs. You can contact College Docs by calling us at 203-330-1852 or emailing [email protected]. Check out our website and like us on Facebook. |
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