The College Board recently announced that they would be discontinuing the administration of Subject Tests this spring in the U.S. If you are a student and have already registered for a future sitting, the College Board will cancel your registration and refund your fees. However, they will still be made available for international students in May and June, 2021 but will cease afterwards.
Also, the optional SAT essay section will also be discontinued after June 2021. Fewer and fewer institutions are requiring this as a component of the SAT test; after June, they will only be available as part of SAT School Day sittings (when schools or districts contract with the College Board directly to offer the SAT to their own students only).
Why is this happening? The long-standing critiques of equity and access of standardized tests in college admissions were exacerbated by the logistical and financial challenges of test administration during the COVID-19 pandemic. The use of subject tests had been declining over the years and the College Board’s actions may be finally acknowledging this. However, some fear that the College Board and colleges may instead be encouraging more emphasis of Advanced Placement (AP) tests to be used in assessment; here, the issue of equality of access is raised, as schools serving more affluent communities tend to have more AP courses and preparation resources available, not to mention the costs of taking each AP test.
Nevertheless, anything that can lessen the test taking burden for students applying to colleges is a good thing. In any case, if you are a college bound student, please check websites of the schools you’re considering applying to for updates in their test requirements or advisories – whether they will continue going test optional, or even test blind.
Stay tuned for more updates in the test regime to come.
https://blog.collegeboard.org/January-2021-sat-subject-test-and-essay-faq
