For years, the Scholastic Aptitude Test has come under fire from educators nationwide. The test's inherent bias toward students who attend wealthier high schools and can afford expensive test preparation services has been well documented and extensively discussed. The most powerful criticism of the test has come from University of California President Richard Atkinson who threatened to stop using the SAT in admissions to the university's ten campuses. In response to these challenges, the College Board will institute a series of changes to the test, which in 2005 test will result in a new SAT. Despite these changes, the test's most persistent problem, chronic bias against the poor and minorities, will remain.

The most notable addition to the test is a handwritten essay portion, which will require test-takers to craft an essay on an assigned topic in 25 minutes. Already fraught with bias and accuracy problems, the new SAT will now further handicap low-income students, minorities and students whose first language is not English.

Numerous studies have demonstrated that the SAT is a poor assessment tool and contains inherent biases. The present format dictates classroom curriculum in much of the nation, is coachable and rewards insignificant test-taking skills. This has led to a situation where students who attend better schools and have access to expensive resources such as test preparation courses enjoy a distinct advantage over many of their peers. Students and their families who can afford to do so, routinely spend hundreds of dollars preparing for the exam.

The format tinkering carried out by the College Board was aimed at addressing some of these oft-criticized deficiencies in the exam. But eradicating the failures requires much more than simple addition; it requires a complete overhaul of the test's format so that each student has an equal opportunity to exhibit their academic potential and ability. By adding an essay portion to the exam, the College Board has not only failed to address these deficiencies but has inflamed them. An essay written in 25 pressure-packed minutes hardly qualifies as an accurate assessment of a students' writing skills, much less their potential as a writer. Test-takers whose first language is not English, already at a disadvantage, will find it increasingly difficult to score as well as their native English-speaking peers.

Moreover, the writing portion of the exam's stringent guidelines leave no room for creative choices or imagination, a valuable indicator of real potential that is wholly ignored by the SAT. Students can expect to find their classrooms increasingly tailored to teaching the cookie-cutter 5-paragraph essay.

The College Board's failure to repair their exam and the new biases that it has generated reveal the failure of high-stakes testing to present accurate assessments of students' academic progress. Colleges that have dropped the exam as an entrance requirement report no drop-off in the academic ability of their students and increased diversity in their student bodies. The SAT's new look will not serve higher education, students or society. Colleges and universities must recognize these failures when judging applicants. Standardized tests can never serve as replacements for a thorough evaluation of students academic transcripts, extracurricular activities and life experiences - the attributes that improve higher education for everyone.