The SAT is permanently dropping its optional essay and subject tests

Student takes exam.
(Image credit: iStock)

The College Board is scrapping its SAT subject tests and the SAT's optional essay, among other new pandemic-induced changes.

COVID-19 has cost the College Board both opportunities to hold its SAT college admissions test as well as incentives for students to take the test as colleges loosen admissions requirements. So in an effort to make the college admissions process more "flexible" and "streamlined," the board is abandoning some of its products while working on a new version of the main SAT students can take entirely online, it said Tuesday.

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Kathryn Krawczyk

Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.