Editing SAT (section)

== Perception ==

=== Math–verbal achievement gap ===
{{Main|Math–verbal achievement gap}}
In 2002, ''New York Times'' columnist Richard Rothstein argued that the U.S. math averages on the SAT and ACT continued their decade-long rise over national verbal averages on the tests while the averages of verbal portions on the same tests were floundering.<ref>{{cite news|last=Rothstein|first=Richard|date=August 28, 2002|title=Sums vs. Summarizing: SAT's Math-Verbal Gap|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/28/nyregion/lessons-sums-vs-summarizing-sat-s-math-verbal-gap.html|url-status=live|access-date=February 18, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130510141638/http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/28/nyregion/lessons-sums-vs-summarizing-sat-s-math-verbal-gap.html|archive-date=May 10, 2013}}</ref>

===Optional SAT===
During the 1960s and 1970s, there was a movement to drop achievement scores. After some time, the countries, states, and provinces that reintroduced them agreed that academic standards had dropped, students had studied less, and had taken their education less seriously. Testing requirements were reinstated in some places after research concluded that these high-stakes tests produced benefits that outweighed the costs.<ref>{{cite book|last=Phelps|first=Richard|url=https://archive.org/details/killmessengerwar00phel|title=Kill the Messenger|publisher=Transaction Publishers|year=2003|isbn=978-0-7658-0178-4|location=New Brunswick, NJ|page=[https://archive.org/details/killmessengerwar00phel/page/n240 220]|url-access=limited}}</ref> However, in a 2001 speech to the [[American Council on Education]], [[Richard C. Atkinson]], the president of the University of California, urged the dropping of aptitude tests such as the SAT I but not achievement tests such as the SAT II{{efn||name=SAT-subj|group=}} as a college admissions requirement.<ref>{{cite web|last=Atkinson|first=Richard C.|date=December 2001|title=Achievement Versus Aptitude Tests in College Admissions<!-- Bot generated title -->|url=http://www.ucop.edu/pres/speeches/achieve.htm|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060504025823/http://www.ucop.edu/pres/speeches/achieve.htm|archive-date=May 4, 2006|access-date=|website=University of California Office of the President}}</ref> Atkinson's critique of the [[#Predictive validity and powers|predictive validity and powers]] of the SAT has been contested by the University of California academic senate.<ref name="Bhavnani-2020" /> In April 2020, the academic senate, which consisted of faculty members, voted 51–0 to restore the requirement of standardized test scores, but the governing board overruled the academic senate and did not reinstate the test requirement anyway. Because of the size of the Californian population, this decision might have an impact on U.S. higher education at large; schools looking to admit Californian students could have a harder time.<ref name="Dance-2021" />

During the 2010s, over 1,230 American universities and colleges opted to stop requiring the SAT and the ACT for admissions, according to [[FairTest]], an activist group opposing standardized entrance exams. Most, however, were small colleges, with the notable exceptions of the University of California system and the [[University of Chicago]].<ref name="Hubler-2020">{{Cite news|last=Hubler|first=Shawn|date=May 23, 2020|title=Why Is the SAT Falling Out of Favor?|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/23/us/SAT-ACT-abolish-debate-california.html|access-date=February 2, 2021|archive-date=February 3, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210203012017/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/23/us/SAT-ACT-abolish-debate-california.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Also on the list are institutions catering to niche students, such as religious colleges, arts and music conservatories, or nursing schools, and the majority of institutions in the Northeastern United States.<ref name="Strauss-2019" /> In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, around 1,600 institutions decided to waive the requirement of the SAT or the ACT for admissions because it was challenging both to administer and to take these tests, resulting in many cancellations.<ref name="Aspegren-2021" /> Some schools chose to make them optional on a temporary basis only, either for just one year, as in the case of [[Princeton University]], or three, like the [[College of William & Mary]]. Others dropped the requirement completely.<ref name="Selingo-2020" /> Some schools extended their moratorium on standardized entrance exams in 2021.<ref name="Dance-2021" /> This did not stop highly ambitious students from taking them, however,<ref name="Selingo-2020" /><ref name="Quintana-2020" /> as many parents and teenagers were skeptical of the "optional" status of university entrance exams<ref name="Quintana-2020" /> and wanted to make their applications more likely to catch the attention of admission officers.<ref name="Quilantan-2021" /> This led to complaints of registration sites crashing in the summer of 2020.<ref name="Aspegren-2021" /> On the other hand, the number of students applying to the more competitive of schools that had made SAT and ACT scores optional increased dramatically because the students thought they stood a chance.<ref name="Dance-2021" /><ref>{{Cite news |last=Anderson |first=Nick |date=January 29, 2021 |title=Applications surge after big-name colleges halt SAT and ACT testing rules |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/harvard-uva-sat-act-requirement-college-applications/2021/01/29/90566562-6176-11eb-9430-e7c77b5b0297_story.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210209130535/https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/harvard-uva-sat-act-requirement-college-applications/2021/01/29/90566562-6176-11eb-9430-e7c77b5b0297_story.html |archive-date=February 9, 2021 |access-date=February 9, 2021 |newspaper=The Washington Post |department=Education}}</ref><ref name="Nierenberg-2021">{{Cite news |last=Nierenberg |first=Amelia |date=February 20, 2021 |title=Interest Surges in Top Colleges, While Struggling Ones Scrape for Applicants |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/20/us/colleges-covid-applicants.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210220232205/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/20/us/colleges-covid-applicants.html |archive-date=February 20, 2021 |access-date=March 1, 2021 |work=The New York Times}}</ref> Ivy League institutions saw double-digit increases in the number of applications, as high as 51% in the case of [[Columbia University]], while their admission rates, already in the single digits, fell, e.g. from 4.9% in 2020 to just 3.4% in 2021 at [[Harvard University]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Anderson |first=Nick |date=December 17, 2021 |title=Harvard won't require SAT or ACT through 2026 as test-optional push grows |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2021/04/07/admit-rates-ivy-league-pandemic-test-optional/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20211218205053/https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2021/12/16/harvard-test-optional-college-admissions/ |archive-date=December 18, 2021 |access-date=January 5, 2022 |newspaper=The Washington Post |department=Higher Education}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Anderson |first=Nick |date=April 7, 2021 |title=Applications boom, admit rates plummet: Prestige college admissions get a little crazier in the pandemic |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2021/04/07/admit-rates-ivy-league-pandemic-test-optional/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20210407235730/https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2021/04/07/admit-rates-ivy-league-pandemic-test-optional/ |archive-date=April 7, 2021 |access-date=January 5, 2021 |newspaper=The Washington Post |department=Higher Education}}</ref> At the same time, interest in lower-status schools that did the same thing dropped precipitously;<ref name="Nierenberg-2021" /> the college application process remains driven primarily by the preference for elite schools.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news |last=Selingo |first=Jeffrey |author-link=Jeffrey J. Selingo |date=March 23, 2022 |title=The College-Admissions Process Is Completely Broken |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2017/09/10/the-hardest-test-of-freshman-year-survival/ |archive-url=https://archive.today/20220323135209/https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/03/change-college-acceptance-application-process/627581/ |archive-date=March 23, 2022 |access-date=July 12, 2023 |work=The Atlantic |quote=...that's the dirty secret I learned the year I watched admissions offices review applications: Most don't know exactly what they're trying to assess when they ask for multiple essays and recommendations as well as an encyclopedic list of activities.}}</ref> 44% of students who used the [[Common Application]]—accepted by over 900 colleges and universities as of 2021—submitted SAT or ACT scores in the 2020–21 academic year, down from 77% in 2019–20. Those who did submit their test scores tended to hail from high-income families, to have at least one university-educated parent, and to be white or Asian.<ref name="Lorin-2021" />

Despite the fallout from [[Operation Varsity Blues]], which found many wealthy parents illegally intervening to raise their children's standardized test scores, the SAT and the ACT remain popular among American parents and college-bound seniors,<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Page |first1=Susan |last2=Berry |first2=Deborah Barfield |date=March 20, 2019 |title=Poll: Americans say even the legal breaks for college admission rig the system |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/03/20/poll-college-admissions-unfair-favor-wealthy/3212228002/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201205130419/https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/03/20/poll-college-admissions-unfair-favor-wealthy/3212228002/ |archive-date=December 5, 2020 |access-date=October 28, 2021 |work=USA Today}}</ref> who are skeptical of the process of "[[Holism|holistic]] admissions" because they think it is rather opaque, as schools try to access characteristics not easily discerned via a number, hence the growth in the number of test takers attempting to make themselves more competitive even if this parallels an increase in the number of schools declaring it optional.<ref name="Selingo-2020" /><ref name="Quintana-2020" /> While holistic admissions might seem like a plausible alternative, the process of applying can be rather stressful for students and parents, and many get upset once they learn that someone else got into the school that rejected them despite having lower SAT scores and GPAs.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Bovy |first=Phoebe Maltz |date=December 17, 2013 |title=The False Promise of 'Holistic' College Admissions |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2013/12/the-false-promise-of-holistic-college-admissions/282432/ |archive-url=https://archive.today/20200615020038/https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2013/12/the-false-promise-of-holistic-college-admissions/282432/ |archive-date=June 15, 2020 |access-date=July 12, 2023 |work=The Atlantic}}</ref><ref name=":1" /> Holistic admissions notwithstanding, when merit-based scholarships are considered, standardized test scores might be the tiebreakers, as these are highly competitive.<ref name="Quintana-2020" /> Scholarships and financial aid could help students and their parents significantly cut the cost of higher education, especially in times of economic hardship.<ref name="Quilantan-2021" /> Moreover, the most selective of schools might have no better options than using standardized test scores in order to quickly prune the number of applications worth considering, for holistic admissions consume valuable time and other resources.<ref name="Dance-2021" />

Following the 2023 ruling by the [[Supreme Court of the United States]] against race-based admissions as a form of [[Affirmative action in the United States|affirmative action]], a number of schools have signaled their intent to continue pursuing ethnic diversity. One way for them to adapt to the new legal reality is to drop the requirement of standardized testing, making it more difficult for potential plaintiffs (Asian Americans in the twin cases of ''[[Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard|SFFA v. Harvard]]'' and ''[[SFFA v. UNC|SFFA v UNC]]'') to find concrete evidence for their allegations of discrimination.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Brangham |first1=William |last2=Dubnow |first2=Shoshana |date=June 30, 2023 |title=Colleges adapt admissions programs in wake of affirmative action ruling |url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/colleges-adapt-admissions-programs-in-wake-of-affirmative-action-ruling |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230702140908/https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/colleges-adapt-admissions-programs-in-wake-of-affirmative-action-ruling |archive-date=July 2, 2023 |access-date=July 2, 2023 |work=PBS Newshour |quote=...all the plaintiffs in these affirmative action cases over the years, going back 20 years to the Michigan cases, have used test scores as one set — one proof point in terms of that they were discriminated against that, students who were denied admission with a 1500 SAT and other students with a 1200. Well, when you don't have scores from everybody, it's a lot more difficult to make that case.}}</ref>

On one hand, making the SAT and the ACT optional for admissions enables schools to attract a larger pool of applicants of a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds.<ref name="Farmer-2020" /> On the other hand, letters of recommendation are not a good indicator of collegiate performance,<ref name="Farmer-2020" /> and [[grade inflation]] is a genuine problem.<ref name="Farmer-2020" /><ref name="Dance-2021" /><ref>{{Cite news |last=Wang |first=Amy X. |date=July 19, 2017 |title=No wonder young Americans feel so important, when half of them finish high school as A students |work=Quartz |url=https://qz.com/1032183/no-wonder-young-americans-feel-so-important-when-half-of-them-finish-high-school-as-a-students/ |archive-url=https://archive.today/20210619224958/https://qz.com/1032183/no-wonder-young-americans-feel-so-important-when-half-of-them-finish-high-school-as-a-students/ |archive-date=June 19, 2021}}</ref> If standardized tests were taken out of the picture, school grades would become more important, thereby incentivizing grade inflation.<ref name="Lorin-2021" /> In fact, grades in American high schools have been inflating by noticeable amounts due to pressure from parents, creating an apparent oversupply of high achievers that makes actual high-performing students struggle to stand out, especially if they are from low-income families.<ref>{{Cite news|date=November 28, 2020|title=Exams are grim, but most alternatives are worse|newspaper=The Economist|url=https://www.economist.com/leaders/2020/11/26/exams-are-grim-but-most-alternatives-are-worse|access-date=February 17, 2021|archive-date=February 17, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210217002850/https://www.economist.com/leaders/2020/11/26/exams-are-grim-but-most-alternatives-are-worse|url-status=live}}</ref> Schools that made the SAT optional therefore lost an objective measure of academic aptitude and readiness,<ref name="Frey-2019" /> and they will have to formulate a new methodology for admissions or to develop their own entrance exams.<ref name="Hubler-2020" /> Given that the selectivity of a school a student applies to is correlated with the resources of his or her high school—measured in terms of the availability of rigorous courses, such as AP classes, and the socioeconomic statuses of the student body—, making the SAT optional might exacerbate social inequities. Furthermore, since the costs of attending institutions of higher learning in the United States are high, eliminating the SAT requirement could make said institutions more likely to admit under-performing students, who might have to be removed for their low academic standing and who might be saddled with debt after attending.<ref name="Frey-2019" /> Another criticism of making the SAT optional is that subjective measures of an applicant's suitability, such as application essays, could become more important, making it easier for the rich to gain admissions at the expense of the poor because their school counselors are more capable of writing good letters of recommendation and they can afford to hire external help to boost their applications.<ref name="Lorin-2021">{{Cite news|last=Lorin|first=Janet|date=February 17, 2021|title=SATs, Once Hailed as Ivy League Equalizers, Fall From Favor|work=Bloomberg|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-02-17/sats-once-hailed-as-ivy-league-equalizers-fall-from-favor|url-status=live|access-date=March 4, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210218033118/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-02-17/sats-once-hailed-as-ivy-league-equalizers-fall-from-favor|archive-date=February 18, 2021}}</ref>

It was due to these concerns that the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] (MIT) decided to reinstate its SAT requirement in 2022.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Harden |first=Kathryn Paige |date=April 2, 2022 |title=The SAT Isn't What's Unfair |work=The Atlantic |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/04/mit-admissions-reinstates-sat-act-tests/629455/ |access-date=August 18, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220810030636/https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/04/mit-admissions-reinstates-sat-act-tests/629455/ |archive-date=August 10, 2022}}</ref> Many other universities across the U.S. followed suit in 2024.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Leblanc |first=Steve |date=April 11, 2024 |title=Harvard again requiring standardized test scores for those seeking admission |url=https://apnews.com/article/harvard-standardized-tests-admissions-sat-act-6b611df37d0e6f2865445ca230de1759 |access-date=April 12, 2024 |work=Associated Press |archive-date=April 11, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240411202557/https://apnews.com/article/harvard-standardized-tests-admissions-sat-act-6b611df37d0e6f2865445ca230de1759 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite news |last1=Hartocollis |first1=Anemona |last2=Saul |first2=Stephanie |date=April 11, 2024 |title=Harvard and Caltech Will Require Test Scores for Admission |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/11/us/harvard-test-scores-admissions.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240412123654/https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/11/us/harvard-test-scores-admissions.html |archive-date=April 12, 2024 |access-date=April 17, 2024 |work=The New York Times}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite news |last1=Natanson |first1=Hannah |last2=Svrluga |first2=Susan |date=March 18, 2024 |title=The SAT is coming back at some colleges. It's stressing everyone out. |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2024/03/18/sat-test-policies-confuse-students/ |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240423173221/https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2024/03/18/sat-test-policies-confuse-students/ |archive-date=April 23, 2024 |access-date=June 7, 2024 |newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref> However, the [[University of North Carolina]] system will only require SAT or ACT scores from applicants whose high-school GPA is below 2.8<ref name=":2" /> while the University of California system will continue to be test-blind.<ref name=":4" />

=== Writing section ===
In 2005, MIT Writing Director [[Les Perelman]] plotted essay length versus essay score on the new SAT from released essays and found a high correlation between them. After studying over 50 graded essays, he found that longer essays consistently produced higher scores. In fact, he argues that by simply gauging the length of an essay without reading it, the given score of an essay could likely be determined correctly over 90% of the time. He also discovered that several of these essays were full of factual errors; the College Board does not claim to grade for factual accuracy.

Perelman, along with the National Council of Teachers of English, also criticized the 25-minute writing section of the test for damaging standards of writing teaching in the classroom. They say that writing teachers training their students for the SAT will not focus on revision, depth, accuracy, but will instead produce long, formulaic, and wordy pieces.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Winerip|first=Michael|date=May 4, 2005|title=SAT Essay Test Rewards Length and Ignores Errors|newspaper=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/04/education/04education.html|url-status=live|access-date=February 18, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150316071736/http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/04/education/04education.html|archive-date=March 16, 2015}}</ref> "You're getting teachers to train students to be bad writers", concluded Perelman.<ref>{{cite news|last=Harris|first=Lynn|date=May 17, 2005|title=Testing, testing|work=[[Salon.com]]|url=http://dir.salon.com/story/mwt/feature/2005/05/17/sat/index.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090919030538/http://dir.salon.com/story/mwt/feature/2005/05/17/sat/index.html|archive-date=September 19, 2009}}</ref>

On January 19, 2021, the College Board announced that the SAT would no longer offer the optional essay section after the June 2021 administration.<ref name="College Board-2021" /><ref name="Hartocollis-2021" />