Reduced SAT: “Shorter Passages, Less Vocabulary, More Time”
On Thursday morning, Johns Hopkins University’s Institute for Education Policy released a new study — sponsored by Thomas Aquinas College — that compares earlier versions of the SAT with the test as currently administered. “The College Board’s conception of college-ready reading,” JHU’s researchers conclude, “has changed.”
“The makers of the SAT seem to believe that the ability to tackle long and complex literary works isn’t an important skill for college students anymore. Sadly, given the state of modern higher education, they’re probably right.”
And not for the better, according to TAC Vice President and Dean Emeritus John J. Goyette.
“The makers of the SAT seem to believe that the ability to tackle long and complex literary works isn’t an important skill for college students anymore,” says Dr. Goyette. “Sadly, given the state of modern higher education, they’re probably right.”
The TAC-sponsored report — The SAT Reading Section: A Comparative Analysis of the 1980, 1987, and 2026 Practice Tests — compares SAT forms from 1980 and 1987 with a current College Board practice test. The authors document extensive modifications to the SAT reading section over the past four decades, most of which diminish the emphasis on students’ ability to read and analyze difficult texts. These include:
- Shorter passages, less than a third of their former length
- A sharp drop in the number of vocabulary questions requiring independent word knowledge, from 60 per test to 10
- The near elimination of argumentative and persuasive readings from the test, replaced by expository texts
- Replacing reading passages that assumed prior knowledge and understanding on the part of the reader with texts that reveal their meanings through contextual clues
Vocabulary on the SAT verbal section, by form
“This shift is significant because reading, vocabulary, and comprehension are mutually reinforcing,” the study’s authors observe. “As students read more, both the breadth (number of words known) and the depth (quality of word understanding) of their vocabulary increase, which in turn supports stronger reading comprehension.”
For more than 50 years, Thomas Aquinas College has relied on the SAT to evaluate the aptitude and preparedness of its applicants. Yet since the 1980s, the College Board’s exam has undergone multiple transformations, leading College officials to question whether it still measures the same qualifications as in past decades — and whether prospective students’ test scores can be fairly compared across time.
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Vocabulary has collapsed.
Old SAT: 70.6% of questions tested vocab.
New SAT: 15%
