Whereas Indian universities use a variety of exams resembling JEE, CUET, NEET, and extra, in accordance with the programs they’ve to supply, many non-public establishments are more and more favouring the SAT.
Distinguished non-public establishments, together with Ahmedabad College, Ashoka College, Bennett College, BITS Pilani, FLAME College, NMIMS, and Krea College, now settle for SAT scores from resident/non-resident Indians and worldwide candidates.
Rushi Sheth, Vice President (Worldwide), Faculty Board, highlighted the significance of increasing alternatives for Indian college students.
“There are alternatives for wonderful schooling in India so our aim is to not see profitable outcomes solely within the type of outbound migration,” stated Sheth.
It’s not about figuring out the highest college students and exporting them to the US, however about making Indian college students perceive the choices which are accessible to them right here.
Rushi Sheth, The Faculty Board
“So after we take into consideration the place we wish to spend money on India, it isn’t about figuring out the highest college students and exporting them to the US, however about making Indian college students perceive the choices which are accessible to them right here.”
The Faculty Board just lately hosted the India International Larger Schooling Alliance Discussion board 2024 in New Delhi, which targeted on guaranteeing profitable scholar transitions to greater schooling, geared toward Indian establishments.
The not-for-profit organisation just lately established the India Students program to assist low-income college students from India.
This system gives lower-income college students from India choices via which they’ll lower your expenses as they plan for college, which features a 90% low cost on SAT registration charges and scholarships at collaborating establishments.
Whereas income-eligible college students, finding out in grades 11 and 12, with annual household revenue lower than INR 8,00,000 can entry the registration, these with annual revenue between INR 8,00,000 and INR 1,500,000 can obtain a 50% low cost.
Furthermore, income-eligible college students who get a complete SAT rating of 1300 or greater might also qualify for a merit-cum-need scholarship at collaborating universities.
“We need to retain and safe extra companions for the India Students Program. We’re excited to develop it with not simply the variety of scholarships but in addition via our monetary contribution to this system,” stated Sheth.
Based on Sheth, the Faculty Board is seeking to broaden the scholarship program by 2025.
“We wish to be a complementary piece to the schooling panorama in India. We’re additionally aiming to attach with Indian colleges and allow them to know the various choices they’ll entry via the Faculty Board.”
In an effort to be extra versatile with how the SAT is given, the Faculty Board launched the digital SAT in 2023.
Potential school college students are nonetheless required to go to a testing web site in particular person, however they now take the examination on a private laptop computer or pill, a school-issued gadget, or a borrowed gadget supplied by the Faculty Board.
The digital SAT consists of two sections, the studying, writing, and math sections, and additionally it is a lot shorter – down to 2 hours from three.
Nevertheless, issues stay about whether or not testing centres in sure locations could have the required expertise to manage the SAT and the way broader check safety points can be handled.
On the query of how the Faculty Board will ship the SAT in nations or areas the place web entry could possibly be a difficulty, Sheth maintained that the digital SAT is designed to accommodate such gaps in expertise.
“College students taking a digital SAT, wherever on the earth, solely require a wifi connection two occasions, in the beginning when they’re unlocking the check and on the finish to submit their solutions,” stated Sheth.
“So we wish to guarantee that check centres have some type of wifi community or mobile connection to launch a scholar’s examination.”
Beforehand the SAT has been known as off in three nations, with the examination additionally being hit by safety breaches in nations throughout Asia.
Stories have advised that in some circumstances, the Faculty Board was conscious of sure safety points and nonetheless went forward with the exams.
“The largest danger to us has been the concept somebody is breaking right into a locked room and stealing a paper copy of an evaluation. This has historically been the strongest safety menace that now we have confronted in our 120-year lengthy historical past,” stated Sheth.
“However because the world turns into extra digitally linked, it turns into a lot simpler to transmit data in actual time. This has been one of many greatest motivating elements of our choice to maneuver to digital assessments.”
Based on Sheth, digital SAT permits the Faculty Board to develop entry in locations whereas assuring that not all the scholars can be impacted even when one scholar’s check is compromised.
Based on Sheth, almost 2 million college students took the SAT in 2024, up from 1.9 million in 2023.
“I believe participation within the SAT is rising. It’s nearing the pre-pandemic ranges. College students actually benefit from the expertise of utilizing their very own units.”
Many SAT testing websites closed initially of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, as US faculties and universities made the check elective.
However main establishments, together with the Massachusetts Institute of Expertise, Dartmouth Faculty, Brown College, Yale College, and the College of Texas at Austin have now reinstated the examination as a part of their first-year software course of.
The power of SAT scores to assist predict first-year school efficiency and supply admissions officers with context for evaluating a scholar’s potential, has come up repeatedly in school bulletins concerning the check’s reintroduction.
“We all know that universities can profit from this predictive worth of the SAT rating. It’s additionally a a lot shorter check for college students now. We’ve additionally now elevated our free assets for college students,” stated Sheth.
Registration for the 2025 AP exams is now open on the Faculty Board web site, with the applying deadline set for November 15.
The acceptance of AP scores for school credit score is gaining momentum in India.
Common AI College in Karjat, Mumbai, just lately turned the primary Indian establishment to formally recognise AP credit.
“We’re evolving our AP packages to include issues that college students can then make investments their private ambitions and educational pursuits,” stated Sheth.
“AP Seminar, for instance, affords a college-level dialogue expertise, the place college students drive their very own studying by exploring subjects of non-public curiosity, from local weather change and trend tendencies to financial disparity throughout nations.”
