New SAT will impact admission of Lehigh class of 2021 and later

High school students preparing to apply to college will take a revamped SAT, which is offered through the College Board. This new format will change the way the test is scored, and admissions counselors will look at scores from both the new and old SAT when considering whether to admit applicants or not.

The new SAT is targeted at testing students’ skill levels in regards to practical applications, according to the College Board. The test will return to the 1600 scale and have fewer questions, with no penalty for incorrect answers, a shorter exam period and an optional analysis-based essay. The combined reading and writing sections will be evidence based, meaning students will be asked to analyze and synthesize information from a variety of sources on different topics. Math questions will be practical and focus on problem solving and data analysis, algebra and usage of complex equations.

While the scoring of the exam will change, Lehigh’s Admissions Office will continue to consider applicants based on a holistic approach, according to Bruce Bunnick, director of admissions at Lehigh.

“We won’t modify our application process,” Bunnick said. “Our application reflects a deeply holistic review process that takes into account every item that a student provides. The issue students will face is ‘Should I submit old or new SATs?’”

Lehigh admissions will continue to look at the highest results from multiple SAT scores and use that when determining who is admitted and who is rejected. This process, however, will require that admissions counselors look at both scores and compare the two based on quality, not the numerical value. If a student submits old and new SAT scores, Bunnick said admissions counselors will compare the two scores in relation to each other and use the one which is relatively highest.

This will require admissions counselors to be informed on which kind of super score they are looking at when reviewing applicants, and the office is working to inform counselors about the changes, according to Bunnick.

“Standardized tests, to some degree, can help inform admissions of the academic strengths the student possess,” Bunnick said. “However, in our holistic process we tend to favor the high school transcript because it is a more elongated record of their achievements academically over time as opposed to an exam that is administered on a Saturday morning.”

Moravian College in Bethlehem will also accept both versions of scores from the SAT. Scott Dams, the executive director of admissions at Moravian College, said the new SAT is tied to the teachings of the Common Core, an educational initiative that determines what students should know at the end of each grade.

“The tough part right now is that we don’t have any data to build that off of the new test,” Dams said.

Moravian’s admissions will put more weight on the old SAT than the new SAT for students looking to major in education or nursing because those scores have data that correlates a student’s success in those programs.

Because the essay will now be optional, Lehigh will not grant college credit to students who achieve a certain score. Students who scored above a 700 on the old SAT were placed in English II instead of English I, and did not have to take English I. Because of the new SAT, this will no longer happen.

Moravian’s admissions team will remain neutral on whether their prospective students should take the optional essay or not.

The changes will impact students in the high school class of 2017 and later. Andrew Truman, ’18, believes the new test will be easier and not accurately reflect a student’s ability to succeed in college.

“If it’s not going to be as much time to take it, you won’t have to take as much time to focus on one area,” he said. “But I also don’t think that’s realistic for college. The SAT is supposed to test your preparedness for college, and if they are shortening the time period you need to focus on something, then I don’t think that realistic because in college you have to focus on some things for hours at a time.”