Ford and Chevy. Coke and Pepsi. SAT and ACT. Very different but also similar. Sometimes moving in the same direction while at other times trying to differentiate themselves from the competition.
The latest “twist” to the SAT rolls out in 2027. While the ACT recently made their Science section optional, the SAT has decided to introduce a Science score. Not a separate Science section, but just a “Science Practices and Foundation” score.
Here’s how it works. The SAT will take the specific questions for Reading and Math that are already part of the digital SAT and science related and provide students with an additional Science score, based on a scale of 65-95. This comes in addition to the usual, and unchanged, scores. With this change, students (and colleges) will get three scores - Math (up to 800), Reading (up to 800), your total (combined, up to 1,600) and another Science score between 65-95.
No separate section. No additional questions. No increase in the length of the test. The “science related” questions in Reading and Math will basically count twice: once for Reading or Math, and also for the Science Practices and Foundation Score. In a sense, these questions now carry double the weight. Get them correct, they add to your Reading/Math AND Science scores. Answer them incorrectly, they detract from both the Reading/Math AND Science scores.
These is possibly in response to students benefiting from rampant grade inflation that colleges can’t tell which students are proficient in Science (just like they can’t tell who’s proficient in Reading and Math based solely off overly inflated high school. grades). Thanks to the SAT, now colleges will have a better measure of the science level of their applicants.