Uncertainty looms for pupils hoping to study in US after SAT tests dropped

International students will have a last chance to sit the subject tests in May and June

California Institute of Technology, known as Caltech, is renowned for its engineering and natural science schools. It counts tycoon and aviation pioneer Howard Hughes and the legendary filmmaker Frank Capra among its alumni. It is home to just 2,000 students, making it one of the smallest major universities. Alamy Stock Photo

Located in the heart of Silicon Valley, Stanford was founded in 1885 by Jane and Leland Stanford. Its alumni boasts 19 Nobel laureates and 17 astronauts. Herbert Hoover, the 31st president of the US, was part of the first class. Alamy Stock Photo

Based in the city of Cambridge, Massachusetts, MIT is among the world's best technology universities, offering digital learning, sustainable energy, big data, human health and more. It is home to about 1,000 faculty members and more than 11,000 undergraduate and graduate students. MIT says its alumni-founded companies have created 4.6 million jobs, generating nearly $2 trillion in annual revenues. Taken together, this ‘MIT Nation’ is equivalent, it is claimed, to the 10th-largest economy in the world. Alamy Stock Photo

Dating back to 1636, Harvard is the oldest university in the US and has connections to more than 30 heads of state. Situated in Cambridge, Massachusetts, its 5,000-acre campus houses 12 degree-granting schools and about three-quarters of its roughly 22,000 students are postgrads. Its renowned medical school is connected to 10 hospitals at which students get hands-on experience. Harvard boasts the largest academic library in the world, with 20.4 million volumes and 10 million photographs. Alamy Stock Photo

The ultimate Ivy League university, Princeton's park-like New Jersey campus is home to about 10,000 students. Unusually, it offers residential accommodation to all of its undergraduates across all four years of study, with 98 per cent of its 10,000 students living on site. Its prestigious alumni include Michelle Obama, actor Jimmy Stewart and the economist Paul Krugman. Alamy Stock Photo

Based in New Haven Connecticut, Yale dates back to 1701 and has educated five US presidents: William Howard Taft, Gerald Ford, George H W Bush, Bill Clinton and George W Bush. Unusually for the US, students are housed in residential colleges on the model of Oxford and Cambridge. Many of its Yale's buildings date back to the 18th century Alamy Stock Photo

Home to the Obama presidential library and offices of the Obama Foundation, University of Chicago is located on a 200-acre campus in the city's Hyde Park neighbourhood, near Lake Michigan. Known as UChicago, it boasts about 16,000 undergrads and postgrads. Its business school is ranked as No1 in the world by The Economist, while the New York Times found its graduates were among the most sought after in the corporate world. Alamy

In the top spot for the fourth year is Oxford university, recognisable worldwide for its medieval skyline. It boasts 39 separate colleges and six private hall - some of the most famous are Christ Church, Balliol College and Magdalen - offering virtually every subject in academic study to its 24,000 students. Over the centuries successful graduates have bequeathed fortunes to individual colleges, meaning some boast endowments of hundreds of millions of pounds each. Alamy

Established by King Henry III in 1231, like Oxford, Cambridge is one of two ancient seats of learning. It is home to about 20,000 students and is recognisable for the 'punts' or boats that sail up and down its river. Many of its brightest technology graduates go on to work in start-ups in a high-tech business district known as 'Silicon Fen'. AFP

Imperial College excels in science, engineering, medicine and business and many of its 15,000 students per year go on to top jobs in industry. Famous alumni include science fiction author HG Wells, Queen guitarist Brian May, and former prime minister of India Rajiv Gandhi. Imperial’s most notable landmark is the Queen's Tower, a remainder of the Imperial Institute, built to mark Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee in 1887. Alamy Stock Photo

Thousands of pupils in the UAE will be affected after SAT essay and subject tests were dropped by the College Board.

The SAT, or Scholastic Assessment Test, is a standardised test widely used for university admissions in the US.

Each year, millions of pupils take the SAT – one of two standardised college admissions tests in the US, the other being the ACT, or American College Test.

Most universities in the US ask for a test score with the admission application.

It's much easier to get three perfect scores in subject SATs than get a perfect score in the main SAT. These pupils would be at a disadvantage.

A good score can secure places at reputed universities and help to secure scholarships.

This week, the College Board in the US, which conducts the exam, said they would no longer offer SAT subject tests.

Subject tests are 20 multiple-­choice standardised exams in English, history, languages, math, and science.

But international pupils will have a last chance to sit the test in its original format with essay and subject sections in May and June.

Pupils were permitted to submit scores of three subject SAT tests instead of sitting the main SAT exams.

Peter Davos says many in the Emirates took subject tests. Removing them would make it difficult for pupils to prove their achievements. Pawan Singh / The National

This helped many who wanted to study a particular subject at university.

“It’s much easier to get three perfect scores in subject SATs than get a perfect score in the main SAT. These pupils would be at a disadvantage,” said Peter Davos, founder of Hale Education Group, a consultancy in Dubai that offers mentoring and admissions counselling to pupils.

“The reason the College Board has eliminated these exams is because Covid-19 made it very very difficult for them to administer the SAT in the US and globally.”

Mr Davos said many in the Emirates took subject tests. Removing the tests would make it difficult for them to prove their skills.

“They [The College Board] did this for business reasons but this is not the right move. There will be a gap for international pupils,” Mr Davos said.

While SATs measures a pupil’s fundamental skills, such as maths and reading, the subject tests gauge content knowledge in specific areas.

Mr Davos said subject tests were also eliminated because of logistical challenges.

“It has been very challenging logistically. Also, a decreasing number of pupils worldwide were sitting these tests,” he said.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology has discontinued subject tests in maths and either physics or chemistry from this year.

“The universities stopped requiring these tests but high-achieving pupils would take the exams and submit these scores,” Mr Davos said.

Many high achievers in the US sit the advanced placement exams, which last three-hours and are subject specific.

The College Board will also discontinue the optional SAT essay after the June test.

“Pupils in this part of the world did not like it, they did not enjoy it or see the point of it,” Mr Davos said.

The essay score was never integrated into the SAT score. A couple of years ago, many universities dropped the optional essay. Pupils registered for an upcoming subject test in the US will have their registration cancelled and fees refunded.