New SAT policy enables choice in score reporting

Thu, 14 May 2009 17:50:52 GMT

By Kristina Lykke

Vidal Solano
Students gather information about prospective colleges, including minimum and avergae SAT scores

Before the new policy was implemented, "the colleges received all the scores from every sitting. With this new policy, students may try to get the highest score possible, and they may try to take the SAT and/or the ACT more times than they should," College/Career Information Coordinator Geri Sliffman said. Sliffman specifies that a student can only choose the scores from their various sittings to send to colleges. A student cannot mix and match different sections of the SAT to send to universities. The ACT has always had the score choice option, so some students have chosen to take the ACT instead of the SAT in previous years in order to decide on the scores they prefer their colleges to review. "The SAT used to have score choice, but the colleges pressured them to take it away. Many schools are insisting that all standardized test scores be sent to their schools regardless of the score choice option," Sliffman said. Partly in response to the score choice option, a growing number of colleges and universities are not requiring standardized testing. Colleges may review scores but not require them. Schools are going to increasingly make SAT scores optional, according to Sliffman. Wake Forest University is such a school. The National Association for College Admission Counseling, an organization designed to help students as they pursue postsecondary education, has issued a report asking colleges to rethink the use of standardized testing. "They say that testing is not being used properly. NACAC has said that they want the schools to consider whether they really need the testing in order to admit students. They say we need to get away from the ‘one size fits all’ philosophy. There are many factors that need to be considered to justify a student’s ability to meet with success," Sliffman said. According to the Washington Post, "Critics say score choice encourages students to take the test as many times as they want without consequence, giving an unfair edge to the wealthy and injecting an additional level of strategy into an admissions process that can already feel like a cabalistic ritual." In other words, this policy may favor more affluent individuals who can afford to take the test multiple times and make the college admissions process more complicated. Students generally feel positively about the new policy. Freshman Sarah Rishty thinks the SAT should be optional. Rishty thinks that there are factors other than the SAT that display a student’s college-readiness better. "If students already have college credit, they should be able to go to college," Rishty said. For example, a student who gets credit from Advanced Placement exams has proven that he or she is preparing for college. Junior Tyler Charuhas, however, thinks the SAT should be required because it really does test a student’s knowledge and provides a chance for colleges to quantitatively compare students. "The new policy is good because if you’re in a bad mood or your environment is bad on test day, you can get a different score the next time," Charuhas said. Both Charuhas and Rishty support the policy because they believe that minor discrepancies – having a bad day, not sleeping well the night before – can have a major impact on a student’s SAT score. The new policy allows students to resist these factors and choose the scores from whichever sitting they felt most comfortable with. Tips for taking the SAT? Sliffman advises students not to take the test more than two times. She also suggests that students take the test towards the end of their junior year and that students should at least finish Algebra II before taking the SAT. If students take the SAT before these two benchmarks, they will not be prepared to approach and answer all of the questions correctly on the test. Indeed, the College Board has admitted that taking the test more than twice generally does not improve scores. "Officials with the College Board say they were simply responding to surveys that showed that students want more control over how scores are distributed," the Washington Post reported. Sliffman also encourages students to focus on more than merely perfecting their SAT scores. "Students are going to be so focused on achieving a high score on the SAT or ACT that the large amount of effort used for a small increase on these tests should be spent on academics," Sliffman said.

The Blue & Gold

New SAT policy enables choice in score reporting