The recent changes to the SAT have been big news in education.
The scoring will revert from 2400 to its original scoring, out of 1600, obscure vocabulary words will be eliminated, and the essay will be optional.
This New York Times article tells the story behind the overhaul of that dreaded acronym: SAT.
The story begins when David Coleman, the president of the College Board, planned a meeting in Lower Manhattan with Les Perelman, then a director of writing at M.I.T. Slowly but surely, changes were born. When the two discussed the writing portion of the exam, for example, Perelman questioned the practicality of the essay. “When is there a situation in either college or life when you’re asked to write on demand about something you’ve never once thought about?” he asked. “I’ve never gotten an email from a boss saying: ‘Is failure necessary for success? Get back to me in 25 minutes?’”
The College Board will implement the changes in spring of 2016.