The SAT college admission test will no longer require a timed essay,
will dwell less on fancy vocabulary and will return to the familiar
1600-point scoring scale in a major overhaul intended to open doors to
higher education for students who are now shut out.
The second redesign of the SAT this century, announced
Wednesday, will take effect in early 2016, as today’s ninth graders are
sitting for their college admission tests.
Skeptics questioned whether a new format will be any more successful
than previous efforts to use the standardized test in a campaign for
college access, in part because the test’s scores historically have
correlated with family income. They also point out that the 88-year-old SAT in recent years has slipped behind the rival ACT — a shorter exam with an optional essay — in total student customers.
