High school students applying for UF next year may need to submit scores from a new SAT.
Starting in March 2016, high school students will take a new version of the SAT that doesn’t penalize for guessing and will make the writing portion optional. Students applying for admission to UF for Summer or Fall 2017 can submit the old or new SAT, said Andrea Felder, the director of freshman and international admissions.
She said the College Board will provide UF with information on how scores from the two tests compare in May. They haven’t been told how the two will compare yet.
Superscoring, or combining scores from different sections of multiple SAT tests, will still exist, but not between the two versions of the tests, she said.
“Old will stay with old, new will stay with new,” Felder said.
She said the new test will not affect the admissions process.
“The biggest effect of the new SAT will be more so on the students,” she said. “Some students are being brave and taking it, and others are taking the ACT.”
Mackenzie O’Brien, a UF English sophomore, said she heard about the changes to the SAT while in high school.
“A lot of people in our senior class had to work really hard to do well on the SAT, and they thought it was unfair,” the 19-year-old said. “The SAT was really difficult when I took it, but college is also really difficult.”
She said she thought the test shouldn’t be an indicator for success in school.
“It’s such a weird test,” O’Brien said. “Maybe it’ll be better, but everyone prepares differently for college.”
