According to reports from the College Board, nearly 1.4 million students took up the newly designed SAT examination between March and June this year. The board says that it is up about 180,000 test takers over the same period last year.
SAT also known as the Scholastic Aptitude Test is a standardized test widely used for undergraduate college admissions in the USA and the new version of SAT is held for 3 hours and a plus 50 additional minutes to complete the essay.
The board has made certain changes in the SAT exam and the exam, however, still are to test the critical reading and math skills but the essay portion of the test is now optional. The redesign of the test focuses more on math and on those areas that matter for college and career readiness and shifts away from obscure vocabulary words that do not typically find their way into most higher educational institutions.
Presently on the new SAT, there is no longer a penalty for guessing on a question. And the top score goes back to 1,600 with a separate score for the essay, compared with the previous test's total of 2,400 - 800 points for each of the three categories.
