Collegeboard has enraged students all over the country with its announcement that it will be changing the SAT starting Spring 2016. This not-for-profit organization believes that the SAT has strayed too far from what students are learning in school and is attempting to reconnect the test with knowledge needed for a college education. This translates to students that Collegeboard finally realizes that the SAT has become a painful assessment full of meaningless gobbledygook and jargon that won’t help students to succeed in the future.

A major change to the test is a removal of the extra penalties for wrong answers, which discourage guessing. Students can now answer every question on the test, without worrying about deductions for a wrong answer.

The alterations to the evidence-based reading section will include a shift to more “relevant” vocabulary words and a focus on interpreting and synthesizing evidence found in multiple sources. Students will have to cite quotations from a passage to support their answer to multiple-choice questions. The “relevant” vocabulary will be less ambiguous and geared more towards words that will be used in classrooms and work settings.

Instead of a wide range of math topics, the SAT will put an emphasis on specific concepts like algebra and some sections will prohibit the use of a calculator.

Caraiosa Williamson said, “I wish the changes had been made earlier for our SAT! I think everyone would rather take an easier test.” Laura Halsey disagreed.  “The changes don’t make a difference on our scores. When the test is easier, everyone will do better, and when the test is harder, everyone will do worse. The change will have no effect on my college applications, so I don’t mind it.”

Current freshmen, the class of 2017, will be the test subjects of this “new and improved” exam. It will be released in the spring of 2016, so SAT programs everywhere need to change their curriculum as soon as possible.

The SAT examination has a very large impact on students’ lives and college applications. Everyone taking the new exam should do their own research and learn the ways of the new test. Your score could be the difference between an acceptance and a rejection.