“The SAT is among the most consequential assessments in American education”
Is the overhauled exam formerly known as the Scholastic Aptitude Test easier now insofar as the reading/verbal section is concerned?
Results of a content analysis by the Johns Hopkin University Institute for Education Policy didn’t go that far, but the report did assert that “significant differences in test structure distinguish the older SATs from the current version.”
As of March 2024, the SAT abandoned the classic bubble sheets and number two pencils and is conducted entirely online, making the featured image above a form of nostalgia.
The SAT is obviously a rite of passage for high school students planning to head to college at least at those “higher-learning” institutions that still use it in the admissions process.
That presumably was the motivation for a study commissioned to find out whether the test is still a comparable benchmark or whether it’s been perhaps dumbed down or watered down even possibly in subtle ways.
“This analysis matters for several reasons. First, the SAT is among the most consequential assessments in American education: scores shape college admissions and scholarship decisions and are widely read as a signal of college readiness…,” the report explained in that regard.
Reacting to the report, John J. Goyette, dean emeritus at Thomas Aquinas College, opined that “The makers of the SAT seem to believe that the ability to tackle long and complex literary works isn’t an important skill for college students anymore. Sadly, given the state of modern higher education, they’re probably right.”
Note: Since 1997, the College Board has referred to the SAT by its acronym only.
The Johns Hopkins study, which Thomas Aquinas College sponsored, analyzed three released SAT practice tests: two of 1980s-vintage and one from 2026.
In summary, the Hopkins authors set forth the following in the 21-page report:
“Four of [the results] taken together, point toward the newer form asking less of the test taker…(1) Vocabulary: items requiring independent word knowledge fell from 60 per form to 10, with all now supplied with sentence context; (2) Passage length: passages are much shorter, so reading volume per minute fell even as the allotted time rose (a difference in how much text the test presents, not a finding about how passage length affects scores);
“(3) Type of reading: expository texts have risen substantially (from 5 of 12 passages on the older forms to 14 of 17 on the 2026 form) as argumentative or persuasive writing has nearly disappeared (from 5 of 12 to 1 of 17); (4) Background knowledge demand: on a per-passage basis, the newer form assumes less prerequisite reading knowledge and supplies more context within the passage, whereas the older forms assumed it, and part of the 2026 form’s remaining demand is chart reading rather than reading knowledge…”
The report acknowledged that “none of these findings is decisive on its own, and a content analysis alone cannot establish a change in difficulty. Taken together, however, they point to the test becoming less demanding along the dimensions we examined — its vocabulary and background-knowledge expectations of the test taker and the amount of text it asks students to read.”
With the U.S. midterm elections around the corner, voters might remember that Democrats (as particularly evident in the Biden administration) prioritize identity politics over merit throughout the education sector, and employment in general, although merit can sometimes be subjective, too.
It’s worth mentioning, also, that there are plenty of smart, competent students or potential employees who are just not good test takers.
That said, even taking practice exams, prep courses, and whatnot to prepare for the SAT (or any other standardized testing which ideally puts each applicant on a level playing field) can be beneficial for improving analytical skills and so forth that can be broadly applied.
Leaving aside the Hopkins findings for a moment, it’s become something of an understatement that unless an applicant is pursuing a STEM-type degree, a four-year college credential no longer offers the value it once had. Students enter what is often a far-left indoctrination center and typically leave with huge tuition loan debt and no actual job prospects.
In the meantime, those who, for example, might attend trade schools or pursue apprenticeships, end up with high-paying jobs (that are critically needed for the country’s infrastructure) as electricians, welders, plumbers, carpenters, and in other skilled, hands-on professions.
That might eventually render the SAT discussion moot to some extent for students and their parents as well as for education gatekeepers.
“Our central question is not simply whether the test has become easier or harder—a question that content analysis alone cannot settle—but how the College Board’s conception of college-ready reading has changed: what the test now asks students to do and what it no longer asks,” the Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy report stressed.
The next step? “We recommend a common-scale study in which the same students respond to items from both old and new forms, so that difficulty can be equated directly.”
Readers can review the entire study report, including its methodology, and draw their own conclusions.
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