New SAT Is About the Same as the Old One, College Board Finds

Sep 14, 2026

The College Board announced that recent revisions to the SAT, including the addition of a writing section, have not substantially changed how well the exam predicts first-year college grades. Two validity studies tracking roughly 150,000 students across 110 four-year institutions found writing scores to be more predictive of freshman grade-point averages than the other sections, while overall predictive impact from writing was only marginal when combined with high-school grades. High-school grades remained slightly more predictive, and the test’s accuracy varied across student groups.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryExam

FormatPDF

Pages9

Reading Time23 min

AccessFree to download

New SAT predictive power

Validity studies and student outcomes

Writing section impact and admissions use

Print: New SAT Is About the Same as the Old One, College Board Finds... [http://chronicle.com/cgi-bin/printable.cgi?article=](http://chronicle.com/cgi-bin/printable.cgi?article=)[http://chronicle.com/da..](http://chronicle.com/da..) . [http://chronicle.com/daily/2008/06/3428n.htm](http://chronicle.com/daily/2008/06/3428n.htm) Wednesday, June 18, 2008 New SAT Is About the Same as the Old One, College Board Finds By ERIC HOOVER The latest word about the new SAT? It gives colleges about the same information as the old one did. On Tuesday, the College Board announced that the recent changes in the SAT had not substantially altered how accurately it predicts first-year grades. The news prompted applause from the test's proponents, scorn from its critics, and little surprise from admissions deans. Officials at the College Board, the nonprofit organization that owns the test, say the research affirms that revisions to the exam—including the addition of a writing section—did not diminish its value to admissions offices. The research also found that the new writing section was more predictive of freshman grade-point averages than the other two sections, critical reading and math. The College Board's research comprised two "validity studies," the first to include the full cohort of students who took the new SAT and finished their first year of college this spring. The studies evaluated data on approximately 150,000 students at 110 four-year institutions. "This is very important and positive news for colleges," Gaston Caperton, the College Board's president, said on Tuesday. It's not quite what the College Board had predicted, however, before the new SAT debuted, in March 2005. Prior to that, the group sent admissions officials a guide to the revised test, which said the new version "can be expected to have greater predictive power of a student's probable success" than the previous version had. On Tuesday, Laurence Bunin, a senior vice president at the College Board who oversees the SAT, said the test, while not perfect, remained an "excellent predictor" of academic success. The research, said Mr. Bunin, affirmed that writing skills were "critical to college success." Regard for Writing Section So far, colleges have had a mixed response to the writing section, which includes a 25-minute essay. In a recent Chronicle survey of admissions officials, 32 percent of those who require or consider test scores said the writing test had "no influence" on their evaluation of applicants, while 17 percent said they had "great influence." Many deans have said they were waiting for long-term data on the test before deciding how, or if, they would use the test. For now, Martin A. Wilder Jr., vice president for enrollment and communication at the University of Mary Washington, said his staff uses the writing score only as a "plus factor" in instances where a high score might help an applicant's chances. A student with low scores on the critical-reading section and high grades in English classes, for example, might benefit from a high score on the writing section. "More information is better than less information," Mr. Wilder said. "But we would never make an admissions 1 of 2 6/18/2008 8:52 AM Print: New SAT Is About the Same as the Old One, College Board Finds... [http://chronicle.com/cgi-bin/printable.cgi?article=](http://chronicle.com/cgi-bin/printable.cgi?article=)[http://chronicle.com/da](http://chronicle.com/da)[ ](http://chronicle.com/da)decision based solely on any test score." The College Board's research showed that high-school grades remain slightly more predictive of freshman grade-point averages than are SAT scores. College Board officials reiterated on Tuesday that SAT scores combined with high-school grades were the best predictor of first-year grades in college. Predictive Powers Limited Yet some admissions deans have long argued that freshman-year grades are a limited measure of success i

FAQs

What did the College Board conclude about the new SAT compared with the old SAT?

The College Board found that the new SAT’s revisions did not substantially alter how accurately it predicts first-year grades compared with the old version.

How did the writing section perform in predicting freshman grade-point averages?

The research reported that writing was more predictive than critical reading and math, though its added predictive value overall was only marginal when combined with high-school grades.

Which factors remained strongest for predicting first-year grades?

High-school grades were slightly more predictive than SAT scores, and combining SAT scores with high-school grades was described as the best predictor.

Sep 14, 2026

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