The SAT, once one of the most significant factors in college admissions, has undergone a lot of changes in recent years. With many colleges utilizing test-optional or test-blind policies — and a handful of selective schools reinstating requirements — students may feel unsure of how much the SAT matters in the admissions process. Plus, a shift to a new digital model means a new format and new scoring. A test prep expert and an educational consultant weigh in on what students need to know about the SAT.
Pencils Down
First, say goodbye to the No. 2 pencils. The College Board introduced a new version of the SAT last year, which shifted the format from the traditional paper-and-pencil to an online version.
This transition to digital influences the test in a few ways. For one, this version is shorter; the College Board estimates that the digital test takes students about two hours rather than three.
“The shorter test is a big deal for a lot of high school students. It makes their concentration a little bit easier,” says Annie Burnquist, CEO of Georgetown Learning Centers, which offers tutoring and test prep.
It also introduced an adaptive element to the test. The math and reading portions are each split into two sections. If a student performs well on the first half, the test will supply more challenging questions on the second half. If the student struggles on the first half, the test provides easier questions.
What does it mean for scoring? If a student does not do well on the first half of the test, there is a certain score that they will not be able to surpass. While the College Board does not disclose its algorithm, Burnquist estimates that “if a student gets into the harder second module, they can score somewhere around 600 and above. If you don’t get into that harder module, your score is going to be below that.”
Alex Trefftz, an educational consultant with Know Your Options, points out that this is not much different from other digital standardized tests. The Virginia Standards of Learning tests, for example, use a similar scoring algorithm. And, he says, the SAT has always been graded on a curve. “They are an assessment of you taking that test versus everybody else that’s taking that same test that same day,” Trefftz says. “You might get two questions wrong on the March test, and you get two questions wrong on the May test, and you might come out with different scores.”
To get the best chance at a good score, adequate preparations are important. There are valuable resources online such as practice tests on the College Board’s website and study tools and practice questions on Khan Academy’s website. That practice can help you get a feel for how the test works ahead of time.
“Getting a lot of problems in front of a student, practicing a lot of those problems with how they’re presented on the SAT — which is very different than how they’re usually presented in the classroom — is really essential to them to be able to understand and identify what types of problems they’re answering,” Burnquist says of practice tests.
Trefftz recommends students begin making a plan for the SAT in the spring or summer before their junior year, and then dedicate about eight to 12 weeks of active prep before taking the test.
“You don’t need to spend all of high school preparing for the SAT or the ACT, but knowing what dates you’re targeting and then building that kind of high-intensity, high-regularity [preparation] … those kinds of tactics should be more focused in that kind of eight-to-12-week period before your anticipated testing,” he says.
A Changing Landscape
A large majority of colleges in the U.S. have shifted in recent years to stop requiring standardized tests in the admissions process. Most Virginia colleges do not currently require a test, including the University of Virginia, Virginia Tech, James Madison University, and George Mason University.
But some highly selective schools, including Brown University, Dartmouth College, MIT, and Georgetown University, have pivoted to once again requiring tests. Why the change?
“The folks that led the test-optional movement were kind of suggesting that standardized test scores were a barrier to access,” Trefftz says, adding that the prevailing thought was that students from less-advantaged school systems didn’t have the resources to prepare for tests as much as those from well-off schools.
“Now these colleges that are moving back to requiring them are saying, ‘Actually, students’ test scores are this kind of diamond in the rough theory of diversity and inclusion, that standardized test scores are a ticket into highly selective institutions for students that maybe don’t come from well-resourced high schools.’”
In a letter announcing the reinstatement of the test requirement, Dartmouth University President Sian Leah Beilock said the decision was because “standardized test scores are an important predictor of a student’s success in Dartmouth’s curriculum … regardless of a student’s background or family income” and because, in test-optional systems, many students don’t submit their scores, which “disadvantages students from less-resourced families.”
“I feel like more schools will be moving toward what’s required,” Burnquist says. “I don’t think they’ll ever get back to a place where all schools require that, but I think if we look three years down the road, a higher percentage of schools will require it.”
To Send or Not to Send the Scores
As that trend continues to develop over the years, students are still faced with the question: When applying to test-optional schools, how do you know whether or not to submit your scores?
Students should consider two factors in the decision. First, how do your scores compare with scores other students have submitted? And second, how do your scores compare to the rest of your admissions materials, such as your GPA, extracurriculars, and AP or IB test scores?
For the former, Burnquist recommends looking at the Common Data Set, a publicly available resource with statistics about colleges, such as the number of applicants, the percentage of applicants who submitted scores, and the scores of those students who reported. “Some schools were test optional, and only 10 percent of their incoming class submitted a test. So, in that case, you know, that’s not a huge criterion for them,” Burnquist says. “But some schools that say they’re test optional, and they’ll have 70 or 80 percent of their incoming class submitted a score. In that case, you know that even though they’re saying they’re test optional, you want to submit a score.”
Looking at all of the data available can also provide a better understanding of how accurate a school’s average SAT scores are when predicting chances of admission. Since students with higher scores are more apt to report them, those averages now tend to skew higher. “You really need to look at how that specific school is dealing with those scores and what percentage of students are submitting them to get a better sense as to whether those numbers are accurate or not,” Burnquist says.
And when it comes to the second factor, Trefftz says that it’s important to determine whether the score you earned tells a better or worse “academic story” than what is on your transcript and resume. If you have a high GPA, AP classes, and extracurriculars but scored below a school’s average on the SAT, there’s no need to submit. But if your SAT score is high, it can’t hurt to show it.
“Plan on taking the test, because it still has the opportunity to help you if your test scores tell a similar or better story to the overall academic picture painted by your transcript,” Trefftz says.
Feature image by © ijeab/stock.adobe.com
This story originally ran in our December issue. For more stories like this, subscribe to Northern Virginia Magazine.
