The joys of standardized testing: sitting in a bare room only decorated with a clock that may or may not be right, surrounded by students all equally flustered by this couple-hours-long experience that could impact the trajectory of their academic careers. Colleges rely on scores from these tests to determine scholarships, extra academic opportunities and even acceptance.

The CollegeBoard, the distributor of one of the major standardized tests for high school students: the SAT, has changed their test for the better starting in the next testing season. Their test, once three hours long and taken in one of those barren rooms, will now be shortened to two hours long and administered online.
This is just one step closer to getting rid of standardized testing in college admissions for good.
The 2021 college admissions season introduced test-optional admissions, a policy that for many schools stuck around for the 2022 admissions season, due to COVID-19. But according to NPR, only 75 percent of schools are using this test-optional policy for the next admissions season.
The SAT’s move to a shorter test in an environment that students can choose and are comfortable in, though it won’t fix that 25 percent of schools who won’t go test-optional, will hopefully eliminate some of the stress of big standardized tests.
And while this move may be good for some students, it still doesn’t fix the biggest issue with standardized tests like the SAT: students with more resources get higher scores.
The students with more resources in this case can pay for expensive tutoring classes to prepare them, have a good home environment and technology to take an important test online and often live in areas with lower rates of poverty.
According to the US News, these areas with higher rates of poverty often employ teachers who care less about providing their students with a quality education and help to prepare them for these standardized tests.
If the CollegeBoard truly wants to see a change in standardized testing, the best thing they can do is drop the test’s use in college admissions and scholarships completely.