SAT – News Stories About SAT - Page 1

This Ivy League Just Made a Big Move on SATs

Columbia University Makes
a Big Move on the SATs

Mar 4, 2023 10:00 AM CST

Columbia University Makes a Big Move on the SATs

Ivy League school announces it's keeping its test-optional policy without time limits for admissions

(Newser) - During the peak of the pandemic, many schools around the nation, including Ivy Leagues, suspended their requirements that applicants submit SAT and ACT scores to be considered for admission. Now, one Ivy League might be making that move permanent. NBC New York reports that Manhattan's Columbia University is now...

Big Changes Ahead
for SAT Test-Takers

Jan 25, 2022 12:18 PM CST

Big Changes Ahead for SAT Test-Takers

It's going digital, and it will take 2 hours instead of 3

(Newser) - As more and more colleges make the SAT optional, the test itself will be shortened and entirely digital by 2024, reports CNN . The College Board, the body behind the standardized college admissions test, says it did extensive research before making the decision. “We're not simply putting the current...

Harvard Extends
Big Pandemic
Change for
4 More Years

Dec 17, 2021 1:24 PM CST

Harvard Extends Big Pandemic Change for 4 More Years

Candidates won't be required to send in their SAT, ACT scores until at least 2026

(Newser) - It was a change brought about by the pandemic, and one that Harvard University now plans on continuing for at least four more years—and maybe even for good. The New York Times reports the Ivy League school has decided to go the test-optional route, not requiring SAT and ACT...

University of California
President: Let's Stop
Using the SAT, ACT

May 12, 2020 12:01 AM CDT

University of California President: Let's Stop Using the SAT, ACT

Janet Napolitano, president of the UC system, recommends use of a homegrown test

(Newser) - The president of the University of California wants to end the use of the SAT and ACT as admission requirements and replace them with a homegrown test, according to a plan released Monday. Janet Napolitano’s five-year plan was submitted in advance of a May 21 Board of Regents meeting...

Students Could Take
SAT Exams at Home

Apr 16, 2020 2:43 AM CDT

Students Could Take SAT Exams at Home

June testing has been called off

(Newser) - A home version of the SAT college entrance exam is being prepared in case schools remain closed into the fall, College Board officials said Wednesday as they announced the cancellation of June testing. Instead of a paper-and-pencil test given under proctors' supervision, the home version would be digital and rely...

CEO, Wife Get Jail Time in
College Admissions Scandal

Oct 9, 2019 7:21 AM CDT

CEO, Wife Get Jail Time in College Admissions Scandal

Gregory and Marcia Abbott to each spend month in prison after paying $125K to fix daughter's tests

(Newser) - As Felicity Huffman prepares for her 14-day stay behind bars at the end of the month, more sentences are rolling in for the college admissions bribery scandal—and this time, it's both members of a couple who will see jail time. Gregory Abbott, the CEO of International Dispensing Corp....

College Board Decides
New SAT Score Was 'Wrong'

Aug 27, 2019 3:48 PM CDT

College Board Decides New SAT Score Was 'Wrong'

There won't be an 'adversity score'

(Newser) - "The idea of a single score was wrong. It was confusing and created the misperception that the indicators are specific to an individual student." That's the assessment of the CEO of the College Board, which on Tuesday announced it was doing away with its plans to...

SAT Has Verbal, Math,
and Now 'Adversity' Scores

May 16, 2019 11:55 AM CDT

SAT Has Verbal, Math, and Now 'Adversity' Scores

It will measure hardships of students taking the test

(Newser) - Anyone who has taken the SAT knows the test provides separate scores on the math and verbal sections. But starting this fall, the Wall Street Journal reports that more test-takers will get a third score—for "adversity." The adversity score does not account for race, but it uses...

Student: My SAT Score Rose,
and They Assume I Cheated

Jan 3, 2019 11:10 AM CST

Student: My SAT Score Rose, and They Assume I Cheated

Kamilah Campbell is demanding Educational Testing Service release her score

(Newser) - Kamilah Campbell wanted to improve her March SAT score. So the 18-year-old Florida high school senior "studied harder than she ever studied before," says her attorney. The result was a 330-point increase when she took the test again in October, getting a score of 1230. But then she...

This Major University Wants
to Wipe Out the SATs

Jun 14, 2018 5:00 PM CDT

This Major University Wants to Wipe Out the SATs

University of Chicago has become the first major school to nix testing requirements

(Newser) - The University of Chicago is becoming the first major US research university to stop requiring American undergraduate applicants to submit ACT or SAT scores, reports the AP . The decision that school officials say is designed to help even the playing field for students from low-income or underrepresented communities has been...

High School Seniors' High
Grades May Be Deceiving

Jul 18, 2017 10:00 AM CDT

High School Seniors' High Grades May Be Deceiving

Grades are rising, on average, but SAT scores are falling—so are students learning?

(Newser) - If you've got a straight-A student living under your roof, you may want to give your teen a pop quiz once in a while. A new study reveals that even though a larger percentage of high school seniors than their 1998 counterparts are heading off to college with an...

College Board Recycled Compromised SATs

INVESTIGATION

Mar 29, 2016 3:22 AM CDT

College Board Recycled Compromised SATs

Exams keep falling into the hands of 'bad actors'

(Newser) - The College Board has been trying to clamp down on SAT cheating worldwide, but "cram schools" in East Asia are running rings around it, throwing thousands of exam scores into doubt, reports Reuters . The board, a nonprofit organization that owns and develops the standardized test, routinely recycles SAT test...

Students Bombed
This Year's SAT

Sep 3, 2015 9:02 AM CDT

Students Bombed This Year's SAT

Scores lowest since test got revamped a decade ago

(Newser) - The nation's SAT results are in, and they're not good. Numbers are down in all three sections, among both male and female students, reports Inside Higher Education . The average score was 1490 out of 2,400, down seven points from last year and the lowest since the test...

George Washington University
Ditches SAT, ACT Scores

Jul 28, 2015 3:46 PM CDT

George Washington University Ditches SAT, ACT Scores

School was worried tests were driving away promising students

(Newser) - George Washington University will no longer require that students submit their ACT or SAT scores for most freshman admissions. The dean of admissions at the DC university says administrators were concerned that below-average test scores were leading otherwise strong students to not apply. "Although we have long employed a...

Students Can Retake SAT
for Free After Misprint

Jun 16, 2015 5:10 PM CDT

Students Can Retake SAT for Free After Misprint

Written, spoken directions on time allowed were off on 2 sections

(Newser) - Students who took a flawed SAT this month can get a free do-over. The College Board will waive the $54.50 fee for any student who took the June 6 exam, which contained a printing error that gave some students five more minutes on one section of the test. The...

Va. School Finds
Its Lost SATs—
in Own Building

Jun 2, 2015 12:48 PM CDT

Va. School Finds Its Lost SATs— in Own Building

Oddly, 236 tests were in the shipping area

(Newser) - A month after 236 SATs went missing , school officials in Loudoun County, Va., found the tests yesterday—and they weren't exactly in the hands of UPS as the school had initially claimed, reports NBC Washington . Rather, they were neatly boxed up sitting in a cart in Broad Run High...

Virginia Students Told Their
SAT Tests Have Vanished

May 28, 2015 10:05 AM CDT

Virginia Students Told Their SAT Tests Have Vanished

Loudoun County kids who took it May 2 might have to subject themselves to it again

(Newser) - As far as anxiety-fueling tests, here's one that tops the SAT: the SAT do-over. At least 100 high schoolers in Loudoun County, Va., have been told they may have to take the SAT all over again because their tests have gone missing (some reports say 100 kids; WJLA puts...

New SAT Ditches
'Obscure' Words

Apr 16, 2014 7:50 AM CDT

New SAT Ditches 'Obscure' Words

College Board releases sample questions, more info

(Newser) - The new SAT , coming in 2016, will be more geared toward real-world applications—which means, among other things, that it's bidding adieu to "obscure" vocabulary words. Taking their place: "high-utility" words. The College Board today released 211 pages of info designed to give students "everything [they...

SAT Is Like an IQ Test
—and It Works

OPINION

Apr 15, 2014 1:25 PM CDT

SAT Is Like an IQ Test —and It Works

Slate essayists say it can and should play a valuable role for colleges

(Newser) - The SAT is a favorite punching bag these days, with critics saying it should be eliminated from the college-application process. But in an essay at Slate , David Hambrick and Christopher Chabris come to the test's defense on several fronts. Those who say the SAT is a lousy predictor of...

Don't Revise the SAT,
Just Kill It

OPINION

Mar 6, 2014 12:18 PM CST

Don't Revise the SAT, Just Kill It

It's time to do away with with a one-test-fits-all approach, say critics

(Newser) - The College Board is winning plenty of praise for its upcoming changes to the SAT , with the editors at Bloomberg , for example, happy that the reforms might put a dent in the test-prep industry. When well-to-do parents shell out for that extra help, it "warps educational priorities and helps...