Proposed Changes in the SAT

The proposed revamp of the SAT will not be good for many college applicants.  The main reason for the Collegeboard to propose this change is not the announced goal to make the SAT test more useful but it is primarily an attempt to stop the market share loss it has experienced in recent years to the ACT.  In making the current SAT more like the ACT, it will reduce the marketplace choice that current college applicants enjoy and reduce the number of tools that college admissions officers have in assessing potential students.  Most colleges nowadays will accept either the ACT or SAT.  Students can take both and then decide which one better suits their background and talents and then focus on preparing for that test and present themselves best on their college applications.  In the future, there will be less choice for all students as the SAT becomes more like the ACT. For the student who has, for whatever reason, done poorly in high school classes the proposed changes to the SAT represent a loss of an opportunity to redeem themselves before admission committees.  The proposed changes will not be good for colleges either.  For those colleges who like the availability of a standardized test that measures skills that complement high school studies, the homogenization of the SAT is not good news.  For those adcoms who dislike the SAT and standardized tests in general this change will have little impact.  They will continue to offer test optional paths to admissions.  Thus, the proposed changes in SAT test design benefits neither the majority of students nor the colleges, but serves primarily the interests of the Collegeboard.