How the new SAT got started

For those of us in the SAT world, 2001 was a strange time. At the beginning of the year, the president of the University of California (UC) system made a startling announcement proclaiming his desire to drop the SAT I as a requirement for UC applicants, and at the same time touting the virtues of the SAT II Subject Tests. This statement was particularly important because the UC system is arguably the most powerful public university system in the United States.

To be frank, I was completely astonished. For many years, the University of California system had required the SAT I and three SAT II subject tests for admissions decisions. Could the UC system actually be considering requiring as its only admissions exam requirements the three SAT II subject tests, a battery of tests not even used by the vast majority of colleges in the country? Then came a completely new thunderbolt: Not only was the University of California considering moving to only using the SAT II for admissions, but there was now talk of changing to a "Five SAT II" plan. In other words, the UC system was considering a more confusing plan: requiring applicants to take five, instead of three, SAT II subject tests.

The more I thought about this plan, the more concerned I became. If the University of California picked its own set of tests, what was to stop every other college in the country from picking completely different sets of tests, thereby creating chaos for college applicants?

Everyone knows that across the country, students have been overburdened with testing. In addition to college admissions tests, there are state tests, national tests, AP tests, etc. As I considered the problem of overtesting, something started brewing in my mind. Throughout all of the years I have helped students prepare for the SAT, one thing has always bothered me. Students work with me to prepare for the SAT I, which is a math and English exam, and then they came back to me to work on the SAT II, which also covers math and English, and sometimes these same students even return to work with me on the ACT, which is also a math and English test. Why do there have to be so many tests of math and English?

Sometime in August 2001, a new idea hit me. Why couldn’t there be a single test of math and English? Why couldn’t the SAT I and SAT II be merged into a single test?
On September 9th, 2001, I wrote a letter to Gaston Caperton, the president of the College Board, suggesting that the College Board create a new SAT. Then I went to work on the University of California system and the media. In October 2001 I spoke before the UC Board of Regents to present my idea and over the next few months I wrote columns for many newspapers pushing the idea of a new SAT.

At first I received all kinds of resistance, especially from members of the University of California system. I was certain that I had failed, and that the UC system was going to segregate from the rest of the colleges in the country with some sort of weird augmented SAT II plan. But in January 2002, I received news that was elating. The UC system had changed course and was now asking for a new test. Much of the language in the UC statement echoed what I had been asking for.

As they say, the rest is history. The College Board agreed to create a new SAT for the entire country and here we are.

David Benjamin Gruenbaum