Surge of Students Taking New SAT Exam

A new version of the SAT college entrance exam debuted this year.

The College Board says nearly 1.4 million students took the newly redesigned test between March and June. The mid-year transition to the new format allowed students to choose whether to take the old or new SAT.

"We're in a peculiar state this year," College Board President David Coleman said in a media conference call, explaining that partial data for old and new tests had them "caught in between."  

Some college advisers were cautious about encouraging students to take the debut test since they weren't familiar with the new format.

Scores on the old test had been trending downward, with 2015 the lowest in a decade.

Test scores for the new version will not be reported until after this year's high school seniors have graduated and a full year of data evaluated.

The new SAT curriculum focuses more on "real-world" vocabulary and classroom learning, dropping the penalty for guessing and making the essay optional.