“Although I think that it’s a good thing that they are changing the SAT, I don’t think it’s fair to those of us who will still be forced to take the harder exam, knowing that next year the lower classes will take a better SAT,” said junior Ani Orujyan upon hearing of the recent SAT changes that will take effect in spring 2016.

Like Orujyan, many Clark students and faculty are expressing a mix of optimism and frustration with the upcoming changes that the notorious college admissions examination will undergo. Among the changes that Orujyan says will be beneficial are the more classroom-applicable vocabulary and math sections and the optional essay portion (as opposed to the currently-mandated one).

However, Orujyan said that she felt upset when she heard that the College Board will be partnering with Khan Academy, an online-based tutoring company, to provide free test-preparation for the altered SAT. According to Orujyan, she said that she feels like she wasted money paying for SAT prep books and classes, when it will all soon become free when the new version of the SAT is administered.

According to an official statement on its website, released by the College Board on March 5, other major changes that are in store for the revamped SAT include a reverted 1600 scoring scale (instead of the current 2400), no penalty for wrong answer choices, and evidence-based reading and writing, and material (math, vocabulary, and reading) that is more closely related to what students have and will encounter in the classroom.

As for the reasoning behind these drastic changes, College Board CEO David Coleman said, “It’s time for an admission assessment that makes it clear to students that the road to success is not last-minute tricks or cramming, but the learning students do over years each day.”

Orujyan said that she learned of the SAT changes in her AP Calculus class where teacher Armineh Mikaelian informed the class of the recent developments. “Overall, I think that the changes were needed because much of what is on the SAT now is not very applicable to real world scenarios or much of what is covered in class,” Orujyan said.

Hearing of the changes during the same class period, senior Claudia Melkonian offered a different perspective on the SAT changes. “Everyone’s really upset that the SAT will be easier, but what I feel is going to happen is that if the test is easier, then colleges will expect higher scores and that you take the optional writing section,” Melkonian said. For these reasons, Melkonian says that she feels indifferent about the changes, as it could pose new challenges to the coming generation of SAT test-takers. However, Melkonian said that she hopes that the changes will prove to be more beneficial in the long-run than the current test.

Conrad Pruitt, an English teacher and part-time SAT-prep teacher, also echoed a hopeful sentiment about the coming changes to the SAT. “I like that the test would be more accessible and easier on the students,” Pruitt said. “However, at the same time I’m also disappointed because I feel like [The College Board] made these changes not for the students, but to compete with the ACT test.”

The ACT is another college admissions standardized test which is not operated by College Board and has many similar attributes to the new SAT changes (such as an optional essay section and more applicable reading and mathematics sections). According to a recent Washington Post article, more people have taken the ACT than the SAT every year since 2012.

Although much of the format of the SAT will change, Pruitt said that these changes won’t affect the teaching strategies he uses to help students prepare for the SAT. “If anything, [the SAT changes] will be the most beneficial in taking some of the pressure off of students who are preparing for the exam,” Pruitt said.

According to its official website, the College Board will release the full specifications of the revamped exam along with extensive sample items for each section on April 16.