Why make the change?

Keenan+Troddyn+16+looks+into+the+new%2C+forthcoming+SAT+revisions+online+at+home.+

Nick Napior

Keenan Troddyn ’16 looks into the new, forthcoming SAT revisions online at home.

Nick Napior, Staff Writer

March of 2016, College Board is making major changes to the SAT regarding scoring, format, and timing. This is making many students ask themselves; why make the change?

Changes to the SAT include no penalty for a wrong answer, the test is out of 1600 points, and now the essay is optional; so it is scored separately. These changes were found on the College Board’s website.

“Having no penalty will be helpful, but the questions will most likely be harder” Simon Blaisdell ‘17 said.

These are the changes regarding format. The changes include the multiple choice only having four options as opposed to five, a non calculator section, and the experimental section being removed.

Keenan Troddyn ‘16 said, “I would still rather take the old test because it is structured better and the non-calculator section seems unfair.”

The final area of changes College Board is making involves the time limit that is set on each section of the SAT. The changes they made were the math being divided into 55 minute calculator section and a 25 minute non-calculator, the test only being 3 hours total, and the essay is now 50 minutes total if you decide to take it.

Whether these new changes are going to help the students or make it more difficult is unknown until the test is in practice.

Troddyn said, “Students won’t want to take the essay since it is optional, and colleges are going to look at students who decide to do the essay. Colleges are going to look at two students who score the same on the rest of the test, then use the student who decided to do the essay.”