SAT Score Choice Comes to an End
by Nic Palar
 This March, high school students preparing for college entrance examinations learned, "At the urging of its member colleges and schools, the College Board is dropping its Score Choice option for SAT II tests in fall 2002." Score choice, an option since September 1993, lets a student take and retake an unlimited number of SAT II subject tests. Colleges see only the scores a student selects.
The College Board, responsible for administering both the SAT I (Scholastic Achievement Test) and SAT II subject matter tests, was spurred to action by its view that poorer students have a distinct disadvantage against students who can afford to take many tests. The colleges claim they consider the highest score available regardless of the number of times a standardized test has been taken.
However, the decision came abruptly for many high school juniors, the largest group of SAT II test takers. June 2002, the last date to take the SAT II's with score choice, was packed with students trying to take their last set of subject tests. Local exam centers could not accommodate the crowds.
Mamaroneck students traveled to New Rochelle and even New Haven for the exams. Victor Cohen reported, "Many of my friends and I had to go to Middletown, across the Hudson River, to take our tests." They spent the night in a motel near the test center so they could arrive on time and rested to the exam.
Though unhappy with the timing of the decision, many of the students agreed with the College Board's motivation for removing score choice. Marc Gottlieb, another MHS junior stated, "It seems unfair that I have the ability to take these tests as much as I want, while others have only one shot to get a good score."
Still, the abrupt end of score choice caused a variety of problems. Many students still have not received their results from the SAT II writing test, weeks after the usual reporting time. According to the College Board, there were 20,000 additional essays to read and score. This problem should not recur, but students are faced with decisions on how to schedule future tests.
Chairman of the MHS Counseling Department, Paul Martin predicts " We will want students to take the tests at the optimal time, when they're at their peak of their knowledge." For writing, he suggests the end of junior year. It will be possible to retake the tests, but the counselors would "Rather they take them once and be done with them. Taking them more than twice becomes self-defeating."
However, it may prove difficult for students to schedule their tests when they are at their "peak." This year's juniors have little flexibility left, given that scores need to be sent out when they apply to colleges in the fall and winter. For future classes, it will be a challenge to fit the SAT II tests into the end of year when they are already taking the SAT I exams and up to five Regents or Advanced Placement tests.
Nic Palar will be entering his senior year at MHS in September
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