There have been many changes in the Standardized Achievement Test (SAT) concerning this year’s juniors.

Usually, students take the SAT more than once in order to increase their scores. College Board has announced that starting with the class of 2010 they will allow students to choose which test scores from each section they wish to send to colleges.

College Board is announcing this change in order to compete with the ACT which already allows students choose which scores that they want to send. ACT is a more subject-based test that originated on the west coast and gained popularity in the recent years.

However, there are some doubts about whether or not giving colleges only one of the scores is a good idea.

“Usually colleges are going to take the three best section scores anyway, so it doesn’t really matter if they get all of the scores; it could actually benefit students if the colleges receive all of the scores,” guidance counselor Barbara Drumm said.

Another change about the SAT is that certain schools are no longer requiring the SAT. Among these schools are Wake Forest University in North Carolina and Smith College in Massachusetts. This can be a good thing for some students who do not do well on the test but are still academically good students.

“The SAT was designed to level the playing field and give students that do not have the opportunity to take AP and IB classes an opportunity to show that they have the potential to take these types of classes,” Drumm said.

The writing section of SAT was added in 2005. Three years later, many schools still do not include the score in the college admissions process.

“Writing is sometimes used for [English class] placement in admissions, but it does help a student get into college,” Drumm said.

Nonetheless, the SAT still draws controversy in the minds of students. They do not understand why it is important.

“I do not think that the SAT tests for anything other than the SAT,” senior Daniel Pappas said.

In the most recent commission’s report by the National Association for College Admissions Counseling, it was recommended that college admissions officials move away from their alliance on the SAT and ACT and shift towards exams more closely tied to the students’ high school curriculum achievements.

The commission’s report was led by William R. Fitzsimmons, the dean of admissions and financial aid at Harvard University. According to Fitzsimmons, high school grades and College Board’s individual subject tests are the most important part at Harvard and the school might even eventually make the SAT optional.

The report also mentions that SAT prep courses usually raise a students score by 20 to 30 points, which is good on a 1600 scale but not on 2400 scale. The report also acknowledges that students without financial resources may be penalized for lower scores in some admission and scholarship cases.