Changes to SAT Could Affect Loudoun Students

By Leah Carliner

Sunday, July 6, 2008

Starting with the class of 2010, college-bound students will be able to take the SAT again and again and again -- and college admissions officers will never know.

Under the new score-reporting policy, students can opt to take the college entrance exam as many times as they’d like, but only their best combined test scores will appear on their college applications. Currently, colleges are able to view all of a student’s test results and, thus, how many times the student took the exam. The change, which will offer students a second way to report their scores, was announced late last month by the College Board, the association that administers the exam.

Tim Lucas, the guidance counselor at Stone Bridge High School said that his school really pushes its students to take the test, but he only recommends that students repeat it three times. In 2006, Stone Bridge had 361 students take the exam, more than any other high school in the county.

“For some kids it [will] probably be a little to their advantage,” Lucas said about the new policy.

When counseling future college applicants, Lucas said he recommends that students who want to go to highly competitive schools take the test three times. The first score is usually a result of nerves, the second one is accurate, but the third can be a student’s best, he said.

Anne Lewis, the director of student services for the Loudoun County public school system, said she has “mixed feelings” about SAT’s change. Lewis, who also sits on the Southern regional council of the College Board said the policy will give students more choices, but it will also give them more to worry about.

“I’m just afraid they will forget to have their scores sent,” Lewis said, adding that the change in procedure is complicated.

Currently, students can report to colleges their best math, verbal and written scores from any of the numerous SAT exams that they may take. Under the new score-reporting system students will be offered the option of only reporting scores from one particular test date, or one “sitting,” as the College Board refers to it.

The new policy mirrors a procedure of the ACT, another popular college entrance exam. For the SATs, however, the new way to report scores is optional, and students must decide how they would like to report their scores during their initial registration with College Board.

The College Board Web site describes the policy as, “designed to reduce student stress and improve the test-day experience.”

Mike Ritonia, an independent owner of the Huntington Learning Center in Leesburg, said that he recommends students take the SAT twice, but students who are applying to selective schools will take it “multiple times.”

Ritonia said that there are two reasons to repeat the SAT: to familiarize yourself with the exam and to find the test that’s right for you.

Yet Ritonia said he doesn’t expect the new policy to change the way he advises students at his center.

“I don’t think it’s going to make a difference,” he said.

Tagged: education

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