Breaking News: College Board Discontinues Subject Tests and SAT Essay
Wow, so this morning started with a bang! As the Washington Post is already reporting, [NOTE: and now the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and NPR are too—I told you it was big news!] the College Board (that’s the company that owns and operates the SAT) made two very big announcements:
SAT II Subject Tests are discontinued for US students starting immediately
and
The regular SAT I will no longer include the optional essay after June 2021.
If you regularly read the Ivy Lounge Test Prep® blog, you know that I recently posted about how fewer and fewer schools were even requiring the optional essay component on the SAT and ACT for their admissions process, and that unless you were applying to a handful of colleges, you shouldn’t bother with the SAT or ACT essay at all. In that post I also advised that you DEFINITELY shouldn’t use the essay as a determining factor any more in choosing between the two tests, since it holds so little weight these days. I’ve also been following and advising you on the decline of the SAT II Subject Tests for a while now.
And now, the College Board has taken what had been trends in college admissions and test prep and made them policy. This obviously changes the game for everyone—and I will continue to offer cutting-edge expert analysis of this rapidly changing situation to you here, absolutely free.
Wait, are the SAT II Subject Tests and SAT Essay Really Cancelled?
Yes! The last test date that will even offer the SAT essay nationwide will be June 2021, meaning that the optional essay will still be offered at the March 13, 2021; May 8, 2021; and June 5, 2021 test sittings.
AFTER the June 5, 2021 test sitting, the 50-minute optional essay component will only be available in certain states—like Delaware and Oklahoma—that specifically use the SAT for “school accountability measurement” AND offer the test to its students during the course of a school day in order to ensure they obtain this metric for their specific uses.
So how does this College Board SAT news change test prep?
The good news: you can IMMEDIATELY take the SAT Essay off your mental list of “college process things to figure out”! You do NOT need to register for it, pay extra for it, worry about if the essay “super scores” with other non-essay test sittings you did, wonder if the schools on your college list will require them, or ponder if you should “just do it anyway”—if you’re in a state that needs you to do the SAT essay, THEY will provide you with the test sitting in school and manage the administration of it FOR YOU.
Thus, all YOU have to worry about is whether to take the SAT or ACT—and then completing the four multiple-choice sections associated with whichever test shows off your strengths better.
Now, as far as the SAT IIs—or “SAT 2 Subject Tests” or “SAT II Subject Tests” or just “Subject Tests”—they are no more, effective RIGHT NOW. As in, there will BE no more Subject Test sittings for U.S. students, and they will be phased out for international students by next summer.
The bad news, of course, is that the “regular” SAT sections take on even greater weight. And also, unfortunately, this change will immediately render out-of-date a lot of the test-prep and planning advice out there, so you will need to be very careful about vetting information and advice you read and hear before you apply it to your test-prep process. Luckily, I’m here for you, and will continue to offer you the latest news and expert analysis of test prep and college admissions.
So here’s the big question you’re probably wondering about:
How does the cancellation of the SAT II and Essay affect me?
Well, if you’re one of my students or you follow my advice, the rug was NOT pulled out from underneath you, luckily. I don’t advise my students to even begin studying for their Subject Tests until March or April, since they only need a couple months to study for them, and they should take any SAT 2s at the end of their school year, when they’re already studying for APs and finals, anyway.
So, if you’re a “Hot Shot Junior” who previously thought you might take a couple Subject Tests at the end of the spring semester, you can just forget about them! Luckily, you haven’t even begun to study for them, so you didn’t lose any time or energy. Instead, focus on getting top scores on any AP exams or IB exams you have to take!
For international students, you DO still seem to have two test dates still available to you, if you wanted to boost your college applications by adding in Subject Tests. Obviously, you will need to check to make sure that YOUR test center will still offer it, but you should still have the May and June test sittings if you desire to take them.
And if you’re just beginning your college admissions and test prep process, how do these College Board SAT policy changes impact YOU?
Basically, you have fewer considerations to think about when choosing between the SAT and the ACT—which is also part of an existing trend I’ve been tracking here. You ALREADY no longer had to factor in validating your PSAT score with a specific test to become a National Merit Scholar. And now, you ALSO no longer have to factor in the optional essay—or factor in if your particular degree program or college might require or encourage Subject Tests (or waive them if you opt for the ACT instead of the SAT). To some extent, this move does streamline and simplify the process of choosing the test that will best show off your strengths, which should make freaked-out, overwhelmed students AND freaked-out, overwhelmed parents happy to hear.
So, what DOES make your “SAT or ACT?” decision for you? Really just two things: if you’re able to get the accommodations you need for the SAT or ACT —or not—and which set of 4 multiple-choice sections show off your strengths the best—which isn’t just about which test you score higher on, but also about which test is more “improvable” FOR YOU, based on the specific types of questions you missed and challenges you faced when you tried them.
College admissions and test prep are changing fast: expert advice can help you navigate this stressful process successfully.
Sometimes, it’s a clear-cut answer between the SAT and the ACT for you. If so, congratulations! If it isn’t, and you need a test prep expert to show you WHAT you can improve and HOW—in order to gain the most points in the least amount of time and effort—consider booking an Ace the Test: Game Plan™ with me, where I map out all the factors and take this potentially stressful process off your plate!
