The College Board, the organization behind the SAT, announced a new policy that will allow college applicants to choose which test scores they want admissions officers to see and which ones they do not. The policy, which will begin with the high school graduating class of 2010, was implemented in response to students’ complaints concerning test anxiety.
A main point of concern is the advantage this policy will give to students who are able to afford to take the test multiple times until they receive a score with which they are satisfied. Students pay $45 every time they take the test, and the distinction between applicants in different economic classes is already an issue with such SAT prep classes as Princeton Review and Kaplan costing upwards of $1,000.
More affluent applicants who already have extra opportunities will now receive another big benefit. The new policy does not directly punish those who can’t, or choose not to, pay to take the test multiple times, but it indirectly hurts these students’ chances of being accepted into the college(s) of their choice by not holding other students accountable.