Don't Write Off the Writing Section

The Writing Section received some praise from one of the fiercest critics of the SAT.

The SAT 'at War With Itself'

April 16, 2009

SAN DIEGO -- When American high school students take an SAT that is an hour longer than it used to be, and that includes a writing test many top colleges ignore, Richard Atkinson may be the man they have to thank.

Atkinson is the former president of the University of California. When he announced in 2001 that he was recommending that the university system stop requiring the SAT of applicants, he got the attention of the College Board in a way that other critics of the test never could. The prospect of losing all of those University of California applicants led to all kinds of changes in the SAT (and succeeded in keeping the university among the institutions requiring the test).

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Prior the reforms of this decade, Atkinson said, the SAT was known for "trickery" and "esoteric analogies" that encouraged students to try to learn test-taking skills. He applauded the elimination of the much-mocked analogies section and applauded especially the addition of the writing test to the SAT. Not only does it test something that students actually need to do in college, Atkinson said, but it sends a message to high schools to take writing instruction seriously.

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