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[Name] [Teachers name] English 112-85 16 March 2014 Proposal The SAT Optional Portion Spring 2016 marks a much anticipated season for the future freshmen preparing to take the new SAT. Since the College Board's controversial announcement on March fifth to revise the nearly four hour test, opinions have been divided on the list of changes. Notable adjustments include the removal of the quarter point deduction for wrong answers, the return of the 1600 point scale, and the vocabulary section to be more heavily focused on words commonly recognized in college textbooks (Toppo). However, one significant alteration that has been the topic of much debate since its addition in 2005, was the essay portion. The once required thirty minute essay section has now been reduced to being optional. Certainly the SAT has come a long way since the first College Boards were established in 1901. For students who were keen on being accepted into Barnard, Columbia and New York University, these tests were made up of a sequence of written essays where they were expected to write about a variety of topics such as Latin, mathematics, history or English (Barnes). This process continued until World War II where they were eventually dropped because they were seen as too lengthy and the College Board did not have enough people to grade them. Subsequently with its return, the essay met both praise and criticism; even with the recent announcement of it being optional it has left people once again separated by opinions. People who already oppose the SAT consider the College Boards decision as the final straw in dumbing down the education system. However,

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students who intend to prepare and take the essay portion will soon discover the benefits of the mental and critical thinking skills as they study for a worthy SAT score. The issue concerning this decision lies behind the fact that the SAT is looked upon as a major factor for students applying to universities. Many students start studying as early as middle school , but since the essay portion has been made optional, an abundance of these teenagers may skip the essay in order to focus studying on the other sections of the test. According to the College Board, the average SAT taker will spend eleven hours studying for the test and may be rewarded with fewer than forty points (Cloud). This vital amount of time that teenagers will spend studying for a multiple choice test which is inapplicable to anything they will face in their lives, will only motivate them to neglect practicing and giving enough attention to their writing skills. Leon Botstein, president of Bard College, criticizes the new rule in favor of students being able to think, construct an argument, and persuade as well as suggesting that asking a student to sit down and write essays in an examination setting might be an excellent way to discover an applicants command of language and thought. This one potentially useful piece of evidence has been made optional. Teachers are also held responsible for using valuable time to teach and practice SAT techniques with their class instead of covering key reading and writing skills (Gose, Selingo). Corresponding to an inquiry by the previous president of the College Board, Gaston Caperton, a calculation was made on the relationship between the SAT scores and what high schools were teaching. What Caperton found was an increase in math marks but the verbal portion of the test remained lacking behind what was adequate (Barnes). Based on these results, it is clear that while it is important for students to do well on the other portions of the test, making the essay optional will only encourage them to neglect a significant part of their academic lives.

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The solution to this matter of dispute would to simply enforce the SAT essay as mandatory. Part of the new set of changes coming to the test will be the introduction and usage of computers for the now fifty minute section (Toppo). Leon Botstein continues, Why not give students the time to think, research, and learn as they answer serious questions whose answers demand careful thought and knowledge? Those are the skills that are rewarded in college, and in life. This addition to the clock will hopefully prove successful considering many students typically struggle with unorganized thought processes and the extra time will help them surge through the first portion of the SAT. Utilizing computers will also be an ideal way for fast typing students to whiz through while printing well written essays. One suggestion that could benefit students as they comprehend essay questions, would be to provide them with topics that are not too broad to answer within the time span of a mere fifty minutes. Instead give them questions that encourage them to present a creative answer and defend their position. This will surely give the creative students an advantage and opportunity to shine since the SAT does not consider art to be a logical category on the test. Despite being given the option to skip the essay portion of the SAT, students will not always get the opportunity to skip future essays. In order to be accepted into a university, most colleges will require students to write in applications with personal essays and better explain why they should be accepted into that college. A well known and popular college like Duke University can receive over 23,750 applications for an expected class of 1,667 freshmen so it is crucial that a students admission needs to stand out (Taylor). Bev Taylor, founder of The Ivy Coach which helps students gain access to favored colleges, declares, While grades, courses and standardized test scores are always going to be the most significant factors in the admissions process, the other parts of the application, and especially the essays, can sometimes make all the

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difference between an acceptance and a denial. Once accepted into a college, students will be expected to continue writing papers for their classes whether it is relevant to what they are studying or not. Beneficially, not only will these writing skills help students prepare academically, but they will also advance in their critical thinking, test their spelling, punctuation, grammar and composition. People who were disappointed with the addition of the essay in 2005 are certainly delighted with the new change. Since the removal of the analogies and the replacement of the essay, many opposers to the new portion considered it a waste of time since they expected that the teenagers were going to exaggerate and babble about ideas that they did not even hold accountable. Some would even argue that they failed to show real language skills and proved nothing meaningful (McWhorter). John McWhorter, who appealed for the elimination of the essays, doubted that the students would not even reflect anything they actually believe or feel and that the College Board was encouraging students to write in a fake and pretentious way. While this may be true for some students, the College Board has since attempted to eliminate this issue by being more closely linked to the texts presented to students during the exam, requiring more analysis and citations from the material in the questions and less riffing on personal opinions and possibly untruthful narratives (Gordon). Unfortunately, despite the new adjustment to the essay, it will be at the expense of personal viewpoints. However, if it means to potentially remove the dishonest from sincere writers then it will be a worthwhile sacrifice in the long run. In conclusion, in order for teens to make the right choice that will not only benefit them in their academic lives but also their future, the College Board should reconsider their decision and no longer provide the essay portion as optional. Some students view of it being optional will

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be shrouded with either laziness or neglect for the essays importance. Time will only tell what the future high school students of spring 2016 will choose to do. As the SAT becomes more of a dominant tool in being the deciding factor for students to be accepted into the college of their choosing, so will teachers commence teaching how to solve SAT multiple choice problems instead of teaching their students how to conduct and support an essay. For the number students who will choose to take this essay as an opportunity to flaunt their mental and critical thinking skills, they will be very prepared for college and the future ahead of them.

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Works Cited Barnes, Julian E. The SAT Revolution. (Cover Story). U.S. News & World Report 133.18 (2002): 50. Academic Search Complete. Web. 7 Mar. 2014. Cloud, John. "Should SATs Matter?" Time. Time Inc., 04 Mar. 2001. Web. 7 Mar. 2014. Gordon, Larry. "SAT Overhaul to Make Essay Optional, End Penalty for Wrong Answers." Los Angeles Times. Tribune Company, 05 Mar. 2014. Web. 17 Mar. 2014. Gose, Ben, and Jeffrey Selingo. The SATs Greatest Test. Chronicle Of Higher Education 48.9 (2001): A10. MasterFILE Complete. Web. 7 Mar. 2014. McWhorter, John. "The Sats Should Bring Back Analogies." Time.Com (2013): 1. MasterFILE Complete. Web. 7 Mar. 2014. Taylor, Bev. "The Importance of the Essay in Gaining Admission to a Highly Selective College." The Ivy Coach. The Ivy Coach, Inc., 2002. Web. 7 Mar. 2014. Toppo, Greg. "Withstanding a Test of Time." USA Today 10 Mar. 2014: 3A. Print.