The College Board’s Communications department announced that SAT Subject Tests and the SAT with the essay will be discontinued. 

Paula Ake, college and career counselor, said SAT Subject Tests were beneficial to students who wanted to showcase their knowledge in a specific area but it should not affect students in the college admissions process. The biggest difference is that unlike the SAT, which tests general knowledge and critical reasoning, SAT Subject Tests are designed to measure knowledge in specific areas. 

“It was a way to give them an opportunity to demonstrate specific strengths, which might have set them apart from other applicants,” Ake said. “Colleges are using a variety of criteria to determine admissions such as essays, letters of recommendation, and more.”

Ake said students would take the SAT if some highly selective schools and degree programs and scholarships require the SAT. 

 Students registered for the SAT with Essay this spring can cancel the Essay portion at any time, free of charge. Only the sections that are required have to be completed by the students, but now there is an option for students to participate in the essay or not without any negative impact. 

According to The College Board, they have  been working to provide as many opportunities as possible for students in the Class of 2022 to take the SAT this year. Seats that would have gone to students taking Subject Tests will now go to students who want to take the SAT. 

Soham Saraf, junior, has considered the SAT to be more of a supplement to the ACT; most schools value the two tests equally so there isn’t too much of an advantage to take one over the other. He said if he took the SAT and got a good score it could help to reinforce his ACT score.

 Saraf said the test does not seem more or less appealing than the ACT, but the SAT is appealing to some students more than others due to schools they apply to. Some schools use this testing to determine course placement. 

 “The only reason I haven’t decided on taking the test is that I don’t know if it’s worth it,” Saraf said. “I already have a good ACT score so I’m not sure whether getting a good score on my SAT will be valuable for my resume.

Emily Lory, junior, has also thought of taking the SAT. 

“I  knew I probably would need the scores for college applications and it seemed like a better idea to get the test over with earlier on than later if I did choose to take it,” Lory said. 

Lory would rather take the ACT because she has already taken it and the format is easier for her. To her, the SAT seems like a scarier test even though it is mostly optional to get into most colleges. In the 2019-2020 school year, 41 Marquette students took the SAT.