The College Board announced today some sweeping changes to the SAT. These changes will take affect in the Spring of 2016. If you have a high school, college-bound freshmen—heads up! The test is going to change drastically. According to the College Board, “The redesigned SAT will ask students to apply a deep understanding of the few things shown by current research to matter most for college readiness and success. They’ll find questions modeled on the work of the best classroom teachers and perform tasks practiced in rigorous course work. The SAT redesign is centered on eight key changes.”

In order to better understand these changes, I’ve gathered some excellent articles on the subject for you to pursue further reading.

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Jenn Cohen, the Dallas SAT Prep Examiner and owner and founder of Word-Nerd.com, along with an SAT prep tutoring service geared toward ADHD students, had this to say:

Overall, my take is that the SAT is going to be an easier test, and that it is clearly making some changes based on the growing popularity of the ACT. I wonder if the SAT is actually tolling its own death-knell by shifting to an easier product that’s less useful to colleges. But on the other hand, maybe a lower than average score will more clearly signal to colleges that a student is not ready for college level work. I guess it remains to be seen!

You can read more of her comments at Examiner.com–New SAT Coming in Spring 2016.

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Lynn O’Shaughnessy, author of The College Solution and Shrinking the Cost of College, as well as a regular contributor on CBS MoneyWatch, voiced her thoughts on the changes:

What I found encouraging today was Coleman’s other big announcement that the College Board has entered into a partnership with the Kahn Academy to develop a state-of-the-art test-prep system for any students who want to tackle the SAT. This SAT program will be free.

Sal Kahn, the creator of the Kahn Academy, (see photo) who was present for the announcement, said that the test-prep program will go well beyond providing tips to test takers. The program will identify student deficiencies and teach them the fundamentals, of say, fractions or basic algebra, when needed.

The College Board plans to train tutors, counselors and mentors on how teenagers can take full advantage of the Kahn Academy resources. Coleman noted that the College Board has never entrusted its name to an outside organization until now.

You can read more of what Lynn has to say about the new test on her blog: Big Changes In Store for the SAT.

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The College Board in their announcement today, outlined how the test will change:

When students open their SAT test books in spring 2016, they’ll encounter an SAT that is more focused and useful than ever before. The full specifications of the exam along with extensive sample items for each section will be available on April 16, 2014. The redesigned SAT will focus on the knohttp://www.free-tv-video-online.me/wledge and skills that current research shows are most essential for college and career readiness and success. The exam will reflect the best of classroom work.

For more detailed information and the changes to the SAT, go to the College Board’s site: Delivering Opportunity, Changes to the SAT.