The SAT, a standardized test most commonly taken by high school students in the U.S., has recently been promised substantial changes. The exam has been controversial since its first initial administration in 1926 and has since seen several notable adjustments.

The newest adjustments include directives to move the test to a completely virtual format, allow students to use a calculator on the math portion of the exam, and shorten the reading portion on the exam significantly. These changes are set to affect in 2024 for U.S. residents and 2023 for international students.

In the past few years, students have become more comfortable expressing their thoughts and viewpoints on the school system and the way with which the education of the student body is handled. Public opinion usually bears positive results as time goes on and leads to adjustments such as the SAT test.

While these changes are a step in the right direction, these adjustments stand meager compared to the work yet to be done.

Standardized testing, generally speaking, has been a flawed system from the beginning. There is an underlying implication that all students should learn in the same fashion, which is simply an impossible proposition. Students are not one collective unit but hundreds of thousands of individual minds with individual strengths and individual weaknesses.

We as a society need to have open conversations about the effect of standardized testing on high school students. Students should not equate their worth to a standardized test that was never in their favor. I believe in the importance of putting in the effort to be the best academic version of yourself. However, there is more to be done before this would be possible for the average student.

Changes to the SAT are steps in the right direction. However, there is a long way to go before standardized testing is at its prime and suited for the individual minds of the student body.