SAT tests 'less demanding'; 'attention spans have gone down'
Changes could be attempts to increase equity, education expert says
A recent study funded by Thomas Aquinas College is making waves after it revealed major changes to one of the nation’s most well-known standardized tests.
Johns Hopkins University’s Institute for Education Policy released a study comparing older versions of the SAT with a current practice test. Although a change in difficulty cannot be established, researchers found substantial differences in the reading section that, across the examined dimensions, “point to the test becoming less demanding.”
Questions now loom over whether expectations for college preparedness have declined, and whether the changes signal a deeper problem affecting the school system.
Through a comparative analysis of SAT forms from 1980, 1987, and a 2026 College Board practice test, researchers discovered substantial adjustments to the tests’ reading section that transitioned away from longer, more traditional readings.
The changes include significantly shorter passages, an 83 percent drop in vocabulary questions that require independent word knowledge, the near-total replacement of argumentative and persuasive texts with expository ones, and readings whose meaning can be grasped through context rather than assumed prior knowledge.
David Steiner, executive director of Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy, told The College Fix that the test has indeed changed, but that the “report does not say that the test got easier.”
Steiner posited that the changes could be attempts to increase equity. “We know that children of more privileged backgrounds bring more background knowledge to a test on average, so by dialing back the amount of background knowledge required, you’re enabling a more level playing field,” he said.
Regarding the implications, Steiner told The Fix that different universities have different expectations, which can affect how they interpret these changes and weigh SAT scores. . . .
“The amount of reading that students can stay disciplined about has gone down. Attention spans have gone down,” Steiner said. He also pointed out more general shifts in prioritization of skills from reading and comprehension to “critical thinking and durable skills.”
Thomas Aquinas College Vice President and Dean Emeritus John Goyette told The College Fix, “the study tells us that the SAT is not a strong indicator of students’ ability to engage difficult texts.”
“We need to rely more heavily on other measures to help make that determination,” he said.
He added that the test reflects what he described as a larger problem affecting academia.
“The problem isn’t so much the test, which is just a tool, but mainstream academia and our legacy colleges, which have lost all sense of the meaning and value of higher education,” he said.
At TAC and similar Christian universities, admissions offices are accepting Classic Learning Test scores. The CLT is an alternative assessment to the SAT that, according to its website, “emphasizes timeless academic skills” by focusing on traditional works to encourage better critical and logical thinking.
Its founder, Jeremy Tate, told The Fix, “The CLT now does what the old SAT used to do.”
Tate said that the changes to the SAT are just a response to market demands.
“Although it appears to be something more to many people, the College Board really just functions as a company, and the SAT is a product,” he said. . . .
“Smart students know that more and more colleges view the SAT as a poor indicator of readiness for serious university coursework,” Tate said. “How could a test that never requires students to read a passage longer than 125 words possibly give colleges insight into how students will deal with long and difficult texts?”
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