The UC Regents have approved the removal of the SAT Subject Tests as an admissions requirement. This will take into effect for classes of 2012 and younger. So if you’re a high school freshman right now and plan on applying to a UC school, you’re officially off the hook!
Now do we believe that this is a completely good thing? Let’s look at the pros and cons.
Pros
Obviously, this means two less tests to pay for. Plus, it’s a money saver; you’ll save $29-40 dollars per test. And hey, it’s good for the environment too (less paper to use)! Now, you can focus on other things – such as your GPA, AP tests, the SAT Reasoning Test or the ACT, and most importantly - enjoying your high school life!
Cons
Canning the SAT Subject Tests also has its downside. One can argue that the SAT Subject Tests are a better assessment of an applicant’s academic potential in college than the SAT Reasoning Test. This is especially true for those of you that are taking AP classes. For example, if you’re taking AP Biology, all the content is still fresh in your mind – so what’s another test? Furthermore, most students score higher on subject tests because they’re focused on a specific subject, and they wouldn’t take a test on something that they don’t know a lot about. This is in contrast to the SAT Reasoning Test, which only tests you on how well you can take the SAT.
Some schools in California still require the SAT Subject Tests (e.g. Cal Tech and the Claremont Colleges), and many don’t require them, but say they are HIGHLY recommended (e.g. USC, Pepperdine, Stanford, etc.). But we wouldn’t be surprised if they all decided to drop the tests as well; the UCs tend to be the trend leaders when it comes to stuff like this.
For more information, check out this article - http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/article/19470/.
