With finals far behind them in the distance, students were able to kick back and relax over Winter Break. Or at least they thought they could. That was until it was announced that there would be a major change in the high stakes test game.

As a result of Colorado legislature passed last May, the Colorado Department of Education was asked to review bids for a new college entrance exam for Juniors and a practice of this exam for Sophomores. Thus began the proverbial clash of the titans: College Board (owner of SAT and AP Exams) versus ACT.  

The two companies were asked to submit proposals for their exams followed by a bid for the spot. A committee made up of 15 educators and administrators from all regions of the state as well as one CDE representative reviewed the proposals, along with sample tests and student reports. The new SAT won out against the ACT, with PSAT close by its side.

Abandoning the ACT is far from what anyone in the Cherry Creek School District was expecting, but luckily a transition process will be put into place. Current juniors will be expected to take the ACT as originally planned, but current sophomores will sit the PSAT exam, phasing in the new SAT and pushing out the old ACT. The state mandated ACT will be held for the final time on April 19th; districts will be allowed to decide to administer the practice SAT at their schools on the same date or the 20th.

But what does this new SAT have in store for high school students? For one, the test will provide better alignment with Common Core standards as well as the Colorado Academic Standards, which were among some of the deciding factors for a new exam. The SAT has also decided to finally drop its guessing penalty, making some of its newfounded similarities to the ACT more clear.

More parallels between the exams can be seen within the new focuses in the test. College Board has added a science and historical text section to the reading portion of the exam, along with a greater focus on use of sources and the bolstering of more realistic and applicable math problems.

In spite of its similarities, some colleges are hesitant to take the new exam with as much validity as the ACT. Many top tier schools like Dartmouth College, Florida State University, Bowdoin College, Carleton College, and University of California Berkeley have yet to decide whether they will accept the new SAT scores. Students who will be sitting future SAT and PSAT exams should ensure that the schools they apply to will accept their scores, or make adjustments accordingly.