Wait! Make sure to read Part 1 and Part 2 of this series first!
Welcome back to the third and final installment of Josh Dunks on the College Board.
When we left off last time, the College Board was feeling the heat over falling test scores. They had kept the test format the same for several decades, and they had been using the same reference group since 1941 to scale and calibrate scores.
The College Board’s solution to increasing pressure was to change the name of the test. Twice.
In this part, we’ll cover the three major revisions the test has gone through in the past thirty years as well as the changes planned for 2024.
Throw It Against the Wall…
The 1994-2004 SAT
Although the 1994 changes to the SAT were announced way back in 1990, it’s more convenient for story purposes if I discuss them when they were actually enacted.
The changes here are the first major revisions to the test since the 1950s. When I was a classroom teacher, I updated my assignments and assessments every year because every year I taught a little bit differently—and, hopefully, better—and students were a little bit different. Luckily, students had not changed in the forty-ish years leading up to the 1994 test revisions, so the College Board had had no cause to update the SAT.
On the Verbal side, antonym questions were removed from the Writing section, and there was an attempt to emphasize reading comprehension and analysis. Free response questions were added to the Math section, and, for the first time, calculators were allowed to be used on the SAT.
The reasons given for the changes were to “approximate more closely the skills used in college and high school work,” to avoid “contrived word problems,1 and to include real-world problems that may be more relevant to today’s students” (Lawrence, 2003). You can basically save this P.R. speak and copy/paste it into any College Board press release about changes to the test discussed here:
- We’re changing it for the students.
- This new SAT will be relevant to modern students.
- The test revisions will reflect real school curricula.
They’re not wrong that each new update has reflected real world skills and expectations. I’m unaware of a single job that doesn’t require you to solve opaque, nitpicky questions and bubble in the correct pattern on an answer document. It’s been my most-used skill in every job I’ve ever had.
Also, as a teacher, when I wanted to check if students understood the material we had been discussing in class, I would ask them three riddles that were vaguely related to what we had learned to see if they would be allowed to pass.
Oh, wait. That was the year I was a bridge troll. I always get those two jobs confused—probably because they both involved biting off people’s heads.
This round of test revisions faced criticism for surface-level changes that didn’t address actual underlying issues and biases with the test (The New York Times, 1993).
It’s almost as if high-stakes standardized testing is just about the worst way to gain useful information about what students actually know, especially if that test relies on “gotcha” questions and unfamiliarity with the test format to achieve a perfect bell curve for scoring purposes. Wouldn’t it be crazy to make tests like that measures of ability and potential? Can you even imagine?
In 1995, the College Board finally got tired of all the hullabaloo about declining test scores. Their solution the problem of falling scores was to recalibrate scores, adding about 100 points to each section (Dorans, 2002). They also updated the scaling reference group to a new 1990 group of test takers. This new reference group liked to skateboard in Hypercolor shirts as they got caught up in light-hearted mischief and misunderstandings around Bayside High.
As discussed in Part 2, the test’s name was changed to the SAT I: Reasoning Test in 1997, with the letters no longer standing for anything. Technically, I should have been referring to the test as the “S.A.T.” when referring to all versions of the test prior to 1997. I didn’t do that because I’m a total rebel.
The final change for this version of the SAT occurred in 2004 when the Roman numeral was dropped. The name was now the SAT Reasoning Test.
The 2005-2015 SAT
In the spring of 2005, the SAT received its largest single overhaul yet in our story. Gone were the infamous Analogies questions on the Verbal section. Quantitative Comparison questions were also removed from the Math section (Lawrence, 2003).
The most notable change, however, was the introduction of a mandatory essay section, which was worth an additional 800 points, bringing the total available to 2400. The new essay was adapted from the SAT II Writing test (Lewin, 2002).
Officially, the 2005 changes were made to “enhance [the SAT’s] alignment with current high school curricula and emphasize skills needed for success in college” (Lawrence, 2003). Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?
In reality, the changes were made at the behest of the University of California system, which wanted the SAT and ACT to start including writing samples in their tests (Lewin, 2002). If your largest customer asked you to make some changes, you’d probably make them too.
The problem with most mass-market standardized tests’ essay sections is that they are easily gameable. 1.7 million students in the class of 2022 took the SAT at least once. Imagine grading more than 1.7 million essays, with each essay being scored by two different people. When I was an E/LA teacher, I would average 5-10 minutes per essay. If the College Board allowed raters on the now non-existent essay portion 5 minutes per essay, it would take almost 284,000 hours to rate those essays. If students are expecting those essay scores returned in 6-8 weeks, that’s tens of thousands of hours every week you have to pay people to rate essays.
Instead, for most of these tests, raters are expected to spend 1-2 minutes with each essay, slap a score on it, and move on to the next one. Don’t get me wrong: that’s still a lot of hours altogether, but it’s doable.
To do well on any essay section scored in this way, the secret is to write a lot. The scorer will run out of time to judge your essay as a whole piece, so they’ll do their best and likely give you the benefit of the doubt. If the first couple paragraphs of your essay are complete garbage, you’re probably still not going to do well. But if they’re good enough, you’re probably solid.
In this system, we’re no longer judging a piece of writing on how well it works but, rather, on how verbose the author is. Good writing is clear, but it is also concise. The most difficult essay I ever wrote was one with a strict one-page limit. Ever word mattered in that essay. That’s not how essay sections operate in most standardized tests.
I was “fortunate” to be among the first students to take this version of the SAT, so this is the version that started what has turned out to be an obsession with standardized tests. At no point was anyone concerned with my score out of 2400. We still used the 1600-point scale of the Verbal and Math sections to discuss scores.
In 2009, the College Board enacted their Score Choice policy, which gave students more control over which scores were sent to colleges. As a bonus for the nonprofit College Board, if you don’t have to share all of your scores, you might be willing to pay to take the test more times (Rimer, 2008).
The 2016-2023 SAT
The SAT went through yet another major overhaul in 2016. And this one is/was rough. Woof.
The College Board knew they missed the mark with this revision. Why would they drop “Reasoning Test” from the name unless they knew the new format was unreasonable?
In this version, the essay section was made optional, bringing the scoring back to the classic 1,600-point scale.
The Verbal section got a catchy new name: Evidence-Based Reading and Writing. Because if “evidence-based” is in the name, it must be true and good, right? The stupid vocabulary words that you would only ever find on the SAT were replaced with in-context vocabulary questions. The Reading section was changed to look more like the ACT Reading section but with longer, higher-level passages—including one passage “drawn from the Founding Documents of America or the Great Global Conversation they inspire” (College Board, 2014) and one paired passage—and worse questions. The Writing section was changed to look more like the ACT English section but with longer, higher-level passages and slightly worse questions.
The Math section was changed to “focus more narrowly on linear equations, functions and proportional thinking” (Lewin, 2014). Additionally, the Math was split into a set of questions in which students can use a calculator and another set in which they cannot. The questions between the sections are virtually indistinguishable other than the Calculator section might use slightly grosser numbers.
To everyone’s surprise, the stated reasons why the test was changed were (1) the previous version of the SAT did “not focus enough on the important academic skills” and (2) the test had “become disconnected from the work of our high schools” (Lewin, 2014). Stop me if you think that you’ve heard this one before.
In my experience, not only is this current version2 of the test unnecessarily wordy in every single section, but it also took the College Board several years to produce a test that “felt” the same each time. With the benefit of hindsight, I’d say that it was in 2018 that the College Board finally figured out what they wanted this version of the SAT to be. It wasn’t until 2019 that I realized the test was starting to homologize.
If you don’t believe me, check out tests 1-4—which were released as “teasers” of what the new format before it was actually administered—and compare them to tests that were administered this year. The overall look and format is the same, but the feel is very different.
During the first several years, it was difficult to recommend this test to students. It’s advantages over the ACT are (1) the slower pacing and (2) the Math section doesn’t involve as much precalculus or trigonometry. The Reading section is such a drawback that, for most students, it’s not worth it.
In an attempt to help students who cannot afford elite test prep, the College Board partnered with Khan Academy. That’s a great idea, but the execution is lacking. Khan Academy will help you gain some content knowledge related to the test and test questions, but it won’t teach you how to feel like you’re cheating on test day.
Speaking of cheating on test day, this version of the SAT has also been plagued with scandals. Most people heard about Operation Varsity Blues, in which “wealthy parents…paid millions of dollars in bribes to secure the admission of their children into elite universities” (New York Times, 2019).
Part of this scheme involved abusing the SAT’s accommodations process to get “students” a private testing room in a specific testing center where a proven perfect-scorer would take the test for them. Often this happened without the knowledge of students. If you’ve had difficulties getting your legitimate accommodations approved in the past few years, you can thank the people involved in this corruption.
However, many people have not heard about leaked tests that were then reused, giving students who had already seen the leaked materials an advantage.3 I understand that writing test questions is an expensive, time-consuming process. When the test format is revised, the College Board probably only have a handful of versions available to administer. Still, things like this shouldn’t happen.
In 2021, the essay section was dropped completely and the SAT Subject Tests (AKA SAT II) were discontinued.
Summary of Part 3 and Teaser for the Surprise Part 4
[Editor’s note: Josh, bud. You gotta fix this section header. Also, this editor’s note joke didn’t work in part 1 or part 2, but you’re giving it a third go?]
[Author’s note: Yes.]
Over the past three decades, we’ve seen three pretty different versions of the SAT. Each version has had its own particular quirks. Because I’m a weird goblin-person who loves hiding in my cave and obsessing over tests, I love-hate the SAT. Most days I love to hate it. Other days, I hate that I love it.
With each revision, the College Board P.R. department puts out some press release about how the new test will be great for modern students and will be more closely aligned with actual classroom curriculum. Then, the test is released and nothing’s really changed other than the form students’ torture takes.
Other than the timing, their press release in January was more of the same.
I really thought I was going to have room to discuss the 2024 changes here. I don’t. However, it makes more sense to put those changes and our feelings about the changes in the same post anyway. Spoiler: we’re feeling cautiously optimistic about the New4 SAT. Next time, we’ll get into specifically why that is.
1 If only someone had told the people in charge of writing the test questions…
2 Greetings to those reading this in the distant future of 2024—2023 if you’re outside the U.S.
3 See Dudley, et all (2016) and Vives (2018) for more information.
4 This isn’t a footnote. It’s a joke about how this will be the “new to the fourth power” (New-New-New-New) SAT. I know that jokes are funnier after they’ve been explained, so you’re welcome. However, I realized that it might be confusing for readers because I’ve exclusively been using superscript numbers to indicate footnotes. Anyway…how have you been enjoying this series on the history of the SAT so far? Pretty interesting, right? Make sure you like and subscribe. Go ahead and rate this blog five stars to help us defeat the evil algorithm. What else do influencers usually say in these things? Honestly, I don’t even know why you’re still reading this footnote. What’s wrong with you? The joke’s over. Click on the “4” to get back to the actual post. I’ll make it even easier on you: 4. That was your chance, but you decided to hang around. I’m disappointed in you.
Works Cited & Referenced
College Board. (2014, March 4). The College Board Announces Bold Plans to Expand Access to Opportunity; Redesign of the SAT [Press release]. https://newsroom.collegeboard.org/college-board-announces-bold-plans-expand-access-opportunity-redesign-sat
College Board. (2022, September 28). SAT Program Results Show Increased Participation for the Class of 2022 [Press release]. https://newsroom.collegeboard.org/sat-program-results-show-increased-participation-class-2022
Dorans, N. J. (2002). The recentering of SAT scales and its effects on score distributions and score interpretations. ETS Research Report Series, 2002(1), i-21. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2333-8504.2002.tb01871.x
Dudley, R., Stecklow, S., Harney, A., & Liu, I. J. (2016, March 28). College Board gave SAT tests that it knew had been compromised in Asia. Reuters. Retrieved November 5, 2022, from https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/college-sat-one/
Jordan, Mary (1993, March 27). SAT changes name, but it won’t score 1,600 with critics”. Washington Post. Retrieved November 5, 2022 from https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1993/03/27/sat-changes-name-but-it-wont-score-1600-with-critics/c8bf8809-2c0f-4582-9911-9e5f74ed4c6d/
Lawrence, I.M., Rigol, G.W., Essen, T.V. and Jackson, C.A. (2003), A historical perspective on the content of the SAT. ETS Research Report Series, 2003: i-19. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2333-8504.2003.tb01902.x
Lewin, T. (2002, June 23). New SAT Writing Test Is Planned. The New York Times. Retrieved November 5, 2022 from https://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/23/us/new-sat-writing-test-is-planned.html
Lewin, T. (2014, March 5). A New Sat Aims to Realign With Schoolwork. The New York Times. Retrieved November 5, 2022 from https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/06/education/major-changes-in-sat-announced-by-college-board.html
New York Times (1993, June 9). Next year’s revised S.A.T. is here, and already students (and parents) are jittery. The New York Times, pp. 29. Retrieved November 5, 2022 from https://www.nytimes.com/1993/06/09/education/next-year-s-revised-sat-is-here-and-already-students-and-parents-are-jittery.html?smid=url-share
New York Times (2019, March 12). Here’s how the F.B.I. says parents cheated to get their kids into elite colleges. The New York Times. Retrieved November 5, 2022 from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/12/us/admissions-scandal.html
Pitsch, Mark (1990, November 7). S.A.T. revisions will be included in spring ’94 test. Education Week. Retrieved October 26, 2022, from https://www.edweek.org/education/s-a-t-revisions-will-be-included-in-spring-94-test/1990/11
Rimer, S. (2008, December 30). SAT changes policy, opening rift with colleges in U.S. The New York Times. Retrieved November 5, 2022 from https://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/31/education/31sat.html?smid=url-share
Vives, R. (2018, August 28). Taking the SAT is hard enough. then students learned the test’s answers may have been leaked online. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 5, 2022, from https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-sat-exam-leaked-20180827-story.html
Here it is…the moment you’ve been waiting for…*drum roll*
Click here to read about the changes coming to the SAT in 2024! If you find this post useful, please share it with someone else!
