Dumbing Down the SAT

Flashback 2014. The National Review reports:

It turns out that SAT words were too abstruse.

The College Board is updating its iconic test yet again in ways that are indistinguishable from dumbing it down. The old vocabulary words are out, the math is easier, guessing is no longer punished in the scoring — and we’re supposed to believe that the test is better than ever.

The SAT, relied on heavily in college admissions, has long been attacked for not producing sufficiently egalitarian results. The multiple-choice test has been accused of everything from racism to classism. It is almost certainly the most hated exam in America, and the easiest way to placate the critics is simply to make it less exacting.

#ad#The last round of changes ten years ago eliminated the analogies (e.g., zenith : nadir :: pinnacle : valley) and instituted an essay. This was supposed to be an upgrade, but the mandatory essay is now being discarded. Peter Wood of the National Association of Scholars describes it as “a decade-long experiment in awarding points for sloppy writing graded by mindless formulae.”

Because, standards really are going down.