While the scrapping of the optional essay is expected - the scrapping of subject tests is a bit surprising (to me). True only a handful of universities require them and a few more recommend them - but it used to be another ‘objective’ data point. I appreciate the effort to make the college admission process simpler by fewer standardized tests - but I am afraid it is making the process more subjective. The importance of GPA has risen even more now.
As much confidence as people have in the GPA being a better indicator of college success - IMHO its only a partial indicator and notoriously difficult to compare across the schools/states/countries. Well known public and private high schools with great contacts with top colleges may fare even better in admissions. Standardized tests were the only tickets earlier for students from unknown/obscure high schools to show their mettle. Unfortunately as the importance and strength of standardized tests goes down - chances of these students of unknown high-schools goes down further.
Admission to highly selective private colleges depends on far more than test scores, regardless of whether the students attends an “unknown/obscure” high school or attends a well known one. Students from both types of high schools have numerous areas of the application where they may shine besides just test scores.
If I had to guess, I’d expect that students from unknown/obscure high schools who do get admitted to highly selective private colleges average lower scores than the overall student body due to the correlation between test scores and school resources/wealth. Test scores are more likely to be a relative weak point in the application for students attending HSs in less resourced areas than for students attending HSs in wealthy, well resourced areas.
I always believed AP or IB tests were a much better indication of one’s college academic readiness and potential than the SAT/ACT or Subject Tests. AP tests are like college final exams, especially with the 90 minute free response/essay section, and they test college level material, unlike Subject Tests which were high school material.
I’d be fine with them doing away with all standardized tests except AP and IB tests.
The problem with using AP tests for admission is than most AP tests are taken at the end of 12th grade, so they would be unavailable for admission. Remember that they are supposed to be on advanced (college frosh level) material. A high school graduate could be well prepared for college without having had any college frosh level material in high school courses.
As an American (class of 2023) who was registered to take the Chem, MathII, and US History Subject Tests in May would it be worth taking them in another country in June? There is a good chance I will be visiting another country during the exam date in June and it appears I could still sign up to take the tests then. Would this even be worth my time? I am planning on applying to both American and international colleges (I also am taking AP exams if that matters). Thanks!
I don’t think AP Tests would suddenly be mandatory by any school. Maybe while schools are currently test optional, many will stay this way and as long as tests are not required, maybe the organization decided that it doesn’t need so many tests.
Given that many, many students don’t take AP courses, and a vast majority who do take AP exams take 3 or fewer, I don’t see how making AP tests “mandatory” or making them a significant part of college admissions is feasible.
Last data that I see from CB says that less than 40% of HS students take even a single AP exam. Of those who do, 39% take only one, 73% take three or fewer.
Jeff Selingo tweeted the following on Jan 19: Admissions dean at a highly selective college: “I didn’t realize how much testing was a deterrent to applying until we were forced to go test optional. It was eye-opening.”
I think colleges will adjust just fine to an SATless application process. Some already have. I don’t think colleges will default to only accepting students from certain high schools and/or SES situations. Well, no more than they already do.
I’ve shepherded 3 kiddies through this process, and if any college ‘required’ or ‘highly recommended’ SAT subject tests, they were immediately crossed off the list.
@STEM2017 Agreed! Except D21 didn’t cross Gtown off her list and scrambled to get the SAT2 tests done all summer and into the Fall. Trying to get dates became an EC in our household! She was accepted at her ED and ultimately didn’t apply, but I am still scarred for life.
Google ‘poor decisions by David Coleman’ and you will get many informative articles, including ones on the latest SAT redesign in 2016 or so, CB’s inability to prevent hackers from stealing SATs and Subject tests in the China and other Asian countries, and who can forget the roll out of 2019’s ill-fated SAT Adversity Score?
@Yankeefan20 Coleman, the “architect of the Common Core,” directed the 2016 Redesign. He took away the contract from ETS for writing the test to write it in-house (with questionable results in quality, issues with too much language in the math section; though ETS still has some sort of subcontract with College Board), fired longtime employees, there was a series in Reuters on overseas cheating, the botched PSAT percentiles in 2015, the sense that the equating process has been a struggle ever since the Redesign, unannounced changes in difficulty in 2018 and scaling issues, the failure to get tests online, the emergency online APs went very poorly, the high cost of the AP tests, etc.
The Redesign purported to measure academic skills per the Common Core standards and intentionally made the test more preppable so that all would have access to free prep, with Coleman touting a study whereby using Khan Academy increases scores. This was supposed to help disadvantaged students, level the playing field.
One obvious problem with relying on Common Core academic skills that were supposed to be learned in school is the extent to which the quality of the school might impact that, i.e., not helping those in disadvantaged schools.
Part of the idea behind the 2016 Redesign seemed to be finishing off the gradual move from something that leaned more ability testing all the way over to achievement testing, in a market share battle with ACT. Over the last 25+ yrs, SAT could never really decide what it wanted to measure, some sort of aptitude/ability vs achievement, both having upsides and downsides, and it seems they settled on Common Core “academic skills” for the 2016 Redesign. I wonder what they have in mind for the next alteration - hard to guess what they mean by “streamlining.”
Considering that the math SAT appears to be largely testing Algebra II and is supposed to be taken after 11th grade, I don’t get why the CB couldn’t just call it “AP Algebra II”, design a curriculum and test for it, encourage schools to use it and have done. Or call it “CB Algebra II” if they don’t want to dilute the AP brand as supposedly college level work (though colleges do offer algebra, right?).
I’m sure the same thing could be done for the English version. And a couple of preparatory sciences, and pre-calc, to be taken whenever it’s right in the sequence, with the stronger students advancing to calc AB or BC, and the science APs.
With an emphasis on the material, rather than the processing speed, so additional time wouldn’t actually help. And having students the test could be compulsory when teaching the curriculum, so there is actual back referencing whether the teaching and grading in classes across the US is adequate.
And suddenly working hard to do well in a test would be a normal thing. And students would apply with a number of CB and AP tests showing their academic readiness across the board in ways that relieves colleges from understanding the standards of thousands of high schools.
Note that achievement includes application of aptitude, but it is difficult to measure aptitude in isolation, because it is hard to avoid assuming some prior learning in a test trying to measure aptitude.
@Tigerle That would all be very interesting. One downside, we could really get into the weeds of state vs national curriculum. I haven’t looked lately, but a while back, College Board was marketing “Pre-AP” courses which could function as you suggest, if they added a test. I agree w/ucbalumnus that streamlined, such tests would look a lot like the eliminated subject tests. Perhaps national versions that are something like the old Regents exams? (I have no idea what those exams look like today; took them 30 yrs ago. Surely all would find something about such tests to be annoying or troublesome, but I don’t think I’d be against them in the big picture.) We would still be left with the problem of students at disadvantaged schools not having the same preparation, though that is an issue for any measurement.
I think so. I got 5s on my AP psychology and APUSH exams. My admissions counselor specifically cited this during our meeting after I received my acceptance and merit scholarship.
