The Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), the scores of which are considered for entry into undergraduate programmes in the United States and various other countries has seen a growth of 26 percent this year in India indicating that students willing to go abroad for undergrad studies is growing.
“We don’t reveal the numbers but the growth has been substantial,” said Lisa Jain, India Representative of College Board that conducts the exam worldwide. “The increased numbers may be primarily for US,” she said while accepting that two private universities in India are also considering the scores for admissions. Increasing awareness levels in smaller cities in India is also contributing.
The SAT will see a big change from 2016 and the new version will be student-friendly with focus on reasoning and testing skills for career readiness. The redesigned test will be for 1600 marks and the essay will be optional. Mathematics will be for 800 points while reading and writing section for another 800 marks. Indian students do very well in Math section compared to reading and writing sections due to the inherent pedagogy of Indian schools. The changed version is being developed in partnership with Khan Academy, the free teaching giant on the web. The Khan Academy will develop free test preparation material for the benefit of aspirants.
Ms. Jain said that College Board has also developed PSAT, which is a kind of practice version of SAT to drive away the fear of SAT. The PSAT that can be taken by 9 or 10 standard students will give a comprehensive score card detailing the strengths and weaknesses of students. Most Indian students take SAT twice in 11 and 12 for better scores but PSAT can be a confidence builder and cut down SAT attempts.
Ms. Jain said that the College Board has strict policies on student data sharing and none know the scores of others. The claims of students of top scores in the country cannot be substantiated as each student will get only their scores.
Important websites for aspirantswww.bigfuture.org
www.ap-india.org
www.deliveringopportunity.org
www.collegeboard.org
