While to the average college student taking the SATs may just be a painful memory, for current high school juniors the experience may become considerably less stressful.
Beginning in March 2009, students will be allowed to choose which of their SAT scores colleges see, the College Board announced last week.
Currently, if a student sends one score to a school , that school is also privy to all that student's scores - good and bad. But, with this new move, high school students are now able to increase their scores without revealing to colleges the number of times it took to get them to that final score.
College admissions consultant Steve Goodman said that, with this decision, the College Board is bringing a 10-year-old policy back to life.
"The original idea was to give students more choice as to where they could send their SATs," he said. "The College Board stopped it because . too many students were taking too many tests and it was taking time away from academics."
While these concerns are still valid, many believe the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.
"I think it's a student's right to have a choice," said college admissions consultant Michele Hernandez. "This decision is long overdue."
Students are also enthusiastic about the College Board's recent decision.
"I think it's a great idea," said Lower Merion High School senior Kelly Kempf, who will be taking SAT subject tests next spring. "Personally, one of the reasons I took the ACTs [instead of the SAT I] is that I was so concerned with getting one bad score."
However, students are not the only group benefiting from the decision.
Now that students know colleges will only see their best scores, they also realize the more times they take the test, the better they will perform.
Given the large number of students taking the tests and the fees those students will pay, the College Board will benefit from this decision as much the students will.
Another potential factor in the decision is that the College Board's biggest competitor - the ACT - already lets students choose which scores to send.
"It's a million-dollar industry," said Hernandez. "Everyone buys into it."
However, Goodman admits that, while the decision may have perks for the College Board, it also gives certain advantages to higher-income students.
"Having money in admissions is a huge advantage," he said. "The more money you have, the more resources you have to be able to study for any standardized test."
But according to Hernandez, the real question is why the College Board has not done away with the SATs altogether.
"It's outdated, it's just a bad test," she said. "It just shows how well you take the SATs and how many resources you have."
Goodman agreed, saying that universities recognize that affluent students have an edge in the admissions process.
"Let's face it," he added, "The correlation between your SAT score and first-year grades is now down to 0.46."
