Founded more than a century ago as the College Entrance Examination Board, College Board created and popularized standardized testing. Today, however, College Board has become a parasite to its clients, as its countless fees and lack of accountability to clients have grown rampant in recent years. Now, the time has come for parents and students to look for alternatives to College Board.
According to its website, College Board was built around the purpose of expanding access to higher education. The SAT deters that accessibility with the additional costs that come with taking the tests. Besides the base cost of the SAT, College Board charges its clients if they send their scores to more than four colleges and apply for financial aid through their website. These costs amount to well over $100. You only begin to realize the cost of using College Board long after it is too late to reverse the decision.
The fees College Board demands would be more acceptable if the company was more reliable and flexible with its clients. It takes four weeks for College Board to send scores to colleges and rush-delivery costs an additional $30. Consequently, seniors hoping to take the SAT can only take the test in October to make sure colleges receive their scores by the application deadline.
Additionally, verifying your scores costs money, which would be acceptable if College Board’s record was impeccable, which it is not. In October of 2006, the organization miscounted thousands of test scores. Aware of this since December of 2006, College Board did not publicly admit its mistake until March of 2007. For an organization with this much control over standardized testing, failures like these are unacceptable.
Today, the ACT offers a viable alternative. The costs are roughly equal but the ACT offers a more comprehensive test format, with its scientific reasoning section and an optional writing portion. This new format at least attempts to adjust the test to the test taker.
The SAT has done none of this despite accusations of cultural and literary bias against the critical reading section and the writing section, respectively. Ultimately, the ACT is more attentive to test-takers.
Standardized testing has become a staple of the college application process but that does not mean its clients lack options. Therefore, College Board should rethink its testing approach.