By: Neval Mulaomerovic
For many students, the SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test)is the worst part of preparing for college – a four hour long nightmare, not to mention the week of preparation and money that go into it. Recently, schools such as University of Chicago, Smith College, and WesleyanUniversity have joined the larger trend of making the SAT optional instead of required on the college application. Though it may make it easier for some prospective applicants who were dreading the exam, this trend creates problems for the overall student population.
For starters, the SAT is one of the few objectively comparable parts of the application.Extracurriculars are largely the result of the school you attend, the region in which you live, and your family background. As a result, a student may have extremely impressive activities purely because of their parents’ connections, or they may underperform because their school lacks well-established clubs and organizations. Even your GPA can be affected by the particulars of your administration’s policies and your teachers’ level of rigor. The SAT, on the other hand, is the most objective statistic a college can use to assess a student’s capabilities in the application process.
Those who doubt the SAT’s validity as a measure of a student’s academic abilities often argue that exam is biased towards upper class students who can afford to pay for tutoring and prep books. While money is inevitably power in every sector of life, the modern SAT offers new ways to balance out opportunities for students of different backgrounds. For starters, the test is designed to be an aptitude instead of achievement test, meaning that it is meant to measure natural ability in English and Math instead of a student’s ability to cram as much as possible. The SAT is about thinking strategy, not memorization. As a result, expensive prep classes can only do so much for a test taker. Additionally, resources for the SAT are widely available now more than ever. Aside from the several practice tests that College Board releases for free every year,students often use the SAT subreddit and other online forums for free access to surprisingly useful practice problems and test-taking strategies.
Above all, the SAT is only one of many factors that college admissions officers evaluate.Recent trends show that more personal parts of the application, such as supplemental essays, are prioritized over standardized testing. Students should not be led to believe a single sub-par exam grade will ruin their chances at getting accepted to a good college. This variety of factors that colleges take into account is necessary to make the admissions process as fair and diverse as possible. However, making the SAT optional will only open up more ambiguity and inequity in college applications by taking out yet another way for students to demonstrate their abilities.