The Postmortem on SAT Subject Tests

The College Board asserted that they were eliminating SAT Subject Tests and the SAT essay to “streamline” the college admissions process and “simplify demands on students.” But Ivy Coach’s readers weren’t born yesterday and they don’t believe for a second that the folks at College Board eliminated these exams out of the goodness of their hearts. You see, College Board may be a not-for-profit, but it’s an organization that generates over a billion dollars in annual revenue. Yes, even not-for-profits care deeply about their bottom lines. But if College Board didn’t eliminate the SAT Subject Tests to streamline the process and simplify demands on students, why do we think they chose to nix these tests? Look no further than a piece in The Harvard Crimson, the newspaper of Harvard University, for an answer.

As Vivi E. Lu and Dekyi T. Tsotsong report for The Harvard Crimson in a piece entitled “College Board Eliminates SAT Subject Tests and Essay,” “Brian Taylor, managing director of private college consulting service Ivy Coach, said College Board’s decision was ‘entirely predictable.’ ‘This was an entirely predictable move by College Board,’ Taylor said. ‘When certain elite schools make a move, other universities soon thereafter follow their lead. College Board read the writing on the wall.’ In eliminating the SAT Subject Tests, College Board could make AP exams — end-of-course tests offered by the same company — more profitable, Taylor speculated. ‘AP exams are already hugely important in highly selective college admissions,’ Taylor wrote. ‘This move by College Board hammers home their importance.’ ‘These exams, which went online last year, are also more of a revenue driver for College Board,’ he added. ‘Each test costs test-takers around $95, whereas SAT Subject Tests cost test-takers around $26.'”

Oh wait. That answer was from us. Well, at least you know where we stand on the issue! In any case, curious to learn more this nightmarish year for College Board? Read what we wrote back in August on the existential crisis facing the not-for-profit which cares so deeply about its profits.