Over the course of the last year, there have been various changes in America’s political, social, and academic systems due to the effects of COVID-19. One of these more recent adjustments, especially to a student’s life, is the cancellation of SAT subject tests. The SAT subject test is a multiple-choice standardized test provided by the College Board, typically taken to boost credentials in high school before applying for college, with a maximum score of 800. Originally, these tests were recommended by various colleges, including several Ivy Leagues, and could influence college acceptance outcomes. However, over the last few years, their overall usefulness has become less and less apparent, as many SAT subject tests and AP tests overlap topics. This, combined with COVID-19 outbreaks delaying SAT testing across America, has finally led the SAT subject tests to a close.

The removal of the SAT subject test comes with a plethora of reactions from students. Some freshmen expressed their concern over the removal at first, worrying that an advantage of sorts was being taken away. There was also the question of whether any seniors would feel frustrated or even resentful of its cancellation, being the last class to take the tests and experience the accompanying stress. However, the general consensus seems to be that, for most, there isn’t much of a loss. Multiple sophomores and juniors hadn’t even heard about the cancellation yet, but once informed, said they didn’t really care either way. One Burroughs senior explained that he “hadn’t actually done so well on [his] subject tests, but [he’d] gotten into a good college anyways” with solid APs and a good GPA. Furthermore, the results of 2019 SAT subject testing showed that for the math subject test, 24% of test-takers scored a perfect 800. Since almost a quarter of all test-takers received a perfect score, the worth of a perfect score in admission processes declines, and the advantages a good SAT subject test would provide wouldn’t actually be that beneficial.

Overall, the removal of the SAT subject tests seems to be a beneficial one. As one junior eloquently puts it, they’re just “happy because standardized testing is bad.”