by Dan Edmonds
The SAT is changing (again). You should take the ACT instead. Here's why.
In 2005, the SAT changed because the University of California system threatened to stop using it. In 2016, it’s changing because the ACT is threatening to make it irrelevant. You’ll hear a raft of other reasons from College Board, but all it takes is a quick look at the changes to see that the SAT is becoming more like that ACT. It’s the New Coke moment of standardized testing. And, unfortunately for the College Board, I predict their new product will be about as successful as New Coke was.
The simple fact is that there are numerous good reasons that students shouldn’t take the new SAT next spring — they should opt for the ACT instead.
Reason #1: Lack of Test-Prep Options
From the perspective of test preparation, the new SAT suffers several competitive disadvantages. First, a new test requires entirely new materials. New practice tests. New books. New courses by the various major players in test preparation. And the first round of those materials will have to be based on nothing more than a series of released sample questions and the recently-released practice PSAT — a test that, though similar to the SAT, isn’t the same as the SAT.
Now those new materials probably won’t be awful; the test preparation industry is fairly well-established at this point, and this isn’t the first time the major players have had to overhaul their materials while the College Board tries out a new configuration of questions to convince an increasingly skeptical public of the utility of its flagship product. But the initial round of materials in 2005 (the last time we saw a new SAT) had to be heavily revised in the months after the first new tests were given because practice problems and descriptions of test structure are no substitute for fully-vetted tests administered to actual students. Similarly, it will take a few iterations of the new test before the best teachers and tutors figure out how to modify their approaches to account for changes, and it will take many more months for those new strategies to be disseminated to the less dedicated and experienced instructors.
The ACT, on the other hand, has remained largely the same for decades. There is a wealth of existing high-quality practice materials, and the best approaches to the test are well-established. Whether you choose to prepare on your own with books and online materials, take a class, or hire a tutor, the quality of your materials and instruction will be substantially higher if you prepare for the ACT next year.
Reason #2: Late Results
If the only issues were with the quality of the materials and the knowledge base of the experts, that would be reason enough to take the ACT instead of the new SAT next year. But there are several logistical issues, as well. Today, SAT scores are generally returned within three weeks of the test date; ACT scores have a similar turnaround. The College Board has affirmed at several question-and-answer sessions, however, that the first test in the new format — the March 2016 SAT — will not have scores reported until after the May 2016 results are analyzed, as well.
This caution makes sense. The College Board will need a lot of data to ensure that this new test produces an appropriate range of scores and that the questions are performing as expected. But this caution creates a problematic situation for students. High school juniors who are aiming at highly selective schools often plan to take the SAT twice (in March and May) followed by subject tests (in June). The results of the March test allow students to determine where to focus their efforts in preparing for the May test (or whether to take the test a second time at all). Next year, if you take the test in March, it won’t give you any useful information in time for a May retake.
Furthermore, it’s unclear how schools will interpret the new test. It will take more time for admissions committees to figure out what the new SAT is telling them about students, but they will already have a clear idea of what the ACT represents. While I doubt this will have a tremendous impact on admissions, it’s probably to students’ advantage to score well on the test that colleges will be more familiar with next year.
Reason #3: Increasing Similarity to the ACT
Finally, from the perspective of content, this new test seems to be moving toward being more like the ACT anyway. The writing skills section on the new PSAT has a format that is strikingly similar to the English section of the ACT. Many of the new math concepts (such as basic trigonometry) that have shown up both on released sample questions and on the recent sample PSAT have previously only been tested by the ACT. And like the ACT, the new SAT only has four (rather than five) answer choices per question. Plus, like the ACT, it will no longer penalize students for wrong answers. In short, the SAT — having lost market dominance to the ACT — is adjusting by becoming more like its competitor.
Given the many uncertainties that college-bound students face, basic questions about standardized test content should not be among them. Rather than serving as guinea pigs for the College Board while it tries to figure out how it wants this new, ACT-like test to function, I’d advise students next year to take the already well-established ACT.
Dan Edmonds is Senior Director of Research and Development at Noodle. He's been working in admissions counseling and test preparation for nearly two decades and continues to tutor a handful of students in New York City. Twitter: @edmonds_dan.
