College Board Eyes the Future: Ditches the SAT® Essay and Subject Tests

On January 19, the College Board officially discontinued both their optional SAT® Subject Tests and the SAT® Essay. The May and June 2021 administrations will be the final time either are offered to SAT®-takers. 

In an official statement released Tuesday, the testing giant justified the move:

"As students and colleges adapt to new realities and changes to the college admissions process, College Board is making sure our programs adapt with them. We're making some changes to reduce demands on students."

While the College Board claims that they had already planned on making these changes, COVID-19 certainly accelerated them. In an era where convenience is king and pandemic-inspired test-optional policies remain in place, the SAT® changes mark a strategic evolution that should help sustain the test as a viable admissions tool well into the future.

Simplifying the SAT® Experience

In its current form, registering for the SAT® can be a confusing experience. Registrants are asked to decide whether or not to add on the SAT® Essay and/or select from a menu of specialized Subject Tests. Each of these tests add time and costs. Making things more confusing, some schools have traditionally required (or at least strongly suggested) these add-ons, while others do not consider them at all.

Looking at each of these decisions independently, it is clear that there is sound logic behind the moves.

The SAT® Essay

Writing is undeniably an essential college skill. That said, there has been skepticism about how effective the SAT® Essay (or the ACT® Writing Test, for that matter) is at predicting collegiate level writing prowess.

You may remember Harvard made headlines when it joined fellow Ivy League schools in dropping the SAT® Essay requirement back in 2018, citing the fact that there were already other opportunities for applicants to showcase their writing skills. Much of the College Board’s rationale from this week echoes Harvard’s concerns from 3 years ago:

“Writing remains essential to college readiness and the SAT will continue to measure writing and editing skills, but there are other ways for students to demonstrate their mastery of essay writing, and the SAT will continue to measure writing throughout the test. The tasks on the SAT Reading and Writing and Language sections are among the most effective and predictive parts of the SAT.”

That said, the SAT® Essay is not disappearing entirely. College Board made clear that the essay assessment will continue to be produced and made available to states that use it as part of their federally-mandated standardized testing requirements.

SAT® Subject Tests

Of the two decisions announced this week, the elimination of the SAT® Subject Tests should have been the least surprising. The reality is, the College Board already has a much more effective and widely-adopted subject-based college preparedness test series - the Advanced Placement Test®.

Removing the overlap between the AP program and SAT® Subject Tests is just good business. Both deliver detailed assessments of specific content in a way that more general exams like the SAT® and ACT® cannot. That said, AP has risen to become the much more popular option of the two. 

Over the last decade, College Board has done an exceptional job marketing and promoting its AP courses and tests to both schools and students. In 2019, over 2.8 million students took a total of just over 5 million AP tests. By comparison, there has never been a year with over a million students taking at least one SAT® Subject Test. Eliminating the SAT® Subject Tests was always going to be a question of when, not if.

This is NOT the end of the SAT®

All things considered, this latest consolidation of the SAT® family of tests better positions the College Board for the future of college entrance exams. As “Test-Optional” admissions policies become more commonplace, there is undeniable value in offering a simplified, unified testing experience - one free from superfluous add-ons and redundant results.

Furthermore, this move should expedite the College Board’s development of a Digital SAT® that can be taken entirely online. By eliminating the “add-on” assessments, not only are there fewer opportunities for technical hiccups, but it will help streamline the entire online test-taking experience - from registration through submitting the final answer.

Keep your eyes on the College Board. This pruning is likely an effort to take a step back to prepare for a significant leap forward.