Is Taking the SAT a Necessary Step in Preparing for Post-High School Life?

What do you know or what have you heard about the SAT? Have you taken the test, or will you take it someday?

How do you feel about standardized tests in general? How well do you think the scores reflect what you or other students have learned and the skills you have? What have been your experiences in taking tests like the SAT, ACT, PSAT or tests administered by your state that all students have to take at certain grade levels?

In “Put Down Your No. 2 Pencils. Forever,” Stephanie Saul writes about changes to the SAT that are on the horizon and shifts in the role this test has played in college admissions over the past several years:

The SAT will soon be taken exclusively on a computer, the College Board announced on Tuesday, ending an era in which high schoolers have had to make sure their No. 2 pencils were sharpened and their answer bubbles were completely filled in.

The exam, which students will complete on laptops or tablets at testing centers, will also be shortened from three hours to two hours. The changes will begin in 2024 in the United States and in 2023 in other countries.

The College Board is trying to retool the exam that has stressed out millions of students in the face of questions about whether college admissions tests are fair, or even necessary.

A growing number of colleges have eliminated the requirement that applicants submit scores from the SAT or the competing ACT, and the trend of “test-optional” admissions accelerated greatly during the coronavirus pandemic. More than 1,800 schools did not require standardized test scores for 2022 admissions, according to the nonprofit organization FairTest.

The number of SAT test takers declined from 2.2 million high schoolers who graduated in 2020 to 1.5 million in the class of 2021, according to the College Board. About 1.7 million students in the class of 2022 have taken the test to date.

In addition to its transition to a digital test, the College Board will also allow calculators on the entire math section, shorten reading passages and reflect a wider range of topics.

The author also includes an argument from a critic of the SAT and a response from the College Board, the organization that administers it:

In recent years, the SAT has come under increasing criticism from those who say that standardized tests handicap poor and minority students, partly because they may not have access to expensive test preparation classes.

Bob Schaeffer, executive director of FairTest, which questions the use of standardized tests in college admissions, said in a statement that the shift to a digital SAT “does not magically transform it to a more accurate, fairer or valid tool for assessing college readiness.”

In response to criticism of its test, the College Board has said that SAT scores serve to strengthen the applications of many students who test better than their high school grade-point averages would indicate.

Students, read the entire article, then tell us:

• If you plan to go to college, and if submitting an SAT or ACT score with your application is optional, would you still take the test? Why or why not?

• What do you think of forthcoming changes to the SAT that are outlined in the article? Who, if anyone, do you think will benefit from them? Do you think that the changes will lead to more students taking the test? Why or why not?

• How do you respond to Bob Schaeffer’s criticism of the SAT? Is it valid? What, if anything, do you think should be done to make the test more fair?

• Why do you think many colleges and universities have made the SAT and ACT optional?

• Tell us about your experiences with standardized tests. Do you think they do a good job of assessing skills and knowledge that will be valuable to you and to society as a whole? Or do you think they often fail to measure your true understanding of, or ability with, a subject area? How much pressure do you feel to do well on them? How much of a role do you think they should play in determining an individual’s abilities, or in measuring the worth of a teacher or school? Why?

Want more writing prompts? You can find all of our questions in our Student Opinion column. Teachers, check out this guide to learn how you can incorporate them into your classroom.

Students 13 and older in the United States and Britain, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public.