January 19, 2021

Statement from Rob Franek , editor-in-chief, The Princeton Review
Re: College Board January 19 announcement about the SAT Subject Tests and SAT essay

Many students, parents, educators, and higher education officials will undoubtedly be relieved by the College Board's decision to discontinue the SAT Subject Tests ™ and to drop the essay component of the SAT ® . We join them in this response.

Among the many ways the coronavirus pandemic has disrupted—and is disrupting—the college application process, at a very fundamental level, simply getting a seat at an SAT administration to take these tests has been a source of great uncertainty and stress for students. In that regard, we are glad to see the 20 SAT Subject Tests go. 

This decision by the College Board will likely further increase interest in and use of scores on other exams, most significantly the Advanced Placement ® (AP) tests, which the College Board also administers. We look forward to learning more from the College Board about its plans for its AP and SAT exams for 2021. 

Given that ACT, Inc., is moving to transition the ACT ® to a remote exam this year, we also anticipate an increased number of students may be opting to take the ACT—particularly if the ACT continues to include an optional essay component.

As changes in test formats and offerings evolve and college admission requirements follow suit, we will continue to monitor and report on all such developments.

We will provide guidance to our students, institutional partners, and social media followers and continue to adjust/expand our resources for students preparing to take tests and to apply to colleges.  Among the many resources for students, we debuted in 2020 and are updating nearly daily.

• Two series on our YouTube channel: our COVID-19 series which now numbers nearly 100 videos—the most recent of which is our January 19 video on the College Board announcement about the SAT essay and Subject Tests. It can be viewed here: https://youtu.be/IkMFsNsMSiQ .   We also debuted an ongoing series in December, Key Concepts for Spring 2021 AP Exams .

• Our livestreams to help high school and college students prepare for specific standardized tests. These free hour-long interactive sessions, which have been featured on YouTube’s Learn@Home page and provide valuable and detailed test-taking strategies from The Princeton Review's expert teachers and tutors.

• Several new website articles our content creators published that provided updates and advice on test administration changes in 2020, Among them: Your SAT Was Canceled Because of COVID-19...Now What?

Moving forward, as administrators of standardized tests announce changes, our editorial and content development teams are making appropriate adjustments in our books and website resources for college admission tests, as well as graduate and medical school admission tests.

We urge all students to check websites of colleges or graduate schools to which they are considering applying to get up-to-date information on application requirements and deadlines.

Together with all of our test preparation experts, course and content developers, tutors and authors, we remain committed to The Princeton Review's core mission since its founding in 1981: to help students research, apply to, and gain admission to the colleges best for them.  In recent years, we have added to that mission an increasingly important goal: to help students get financial aid from the colleges best for them.

About The Princeton Review

The Princeton Review is a leading tutoring, test prep, and college admission services company. Every year, it helps millions of college- and graduate school–bound students achieve their education and career goals through online and in-person courses delivered by a network of more than 4,000 teachers and tutors, online resources, and its more than 150 print and digital books published by Penguin Random House. The company’s Tutor.com brand is one of the largest online tutoring services in the U.S. It comprises a community of thousands of tutors who have delivered more than 19 million one-to-one tutoring sessions. The Princeton Review is headquartered in New York, NY. The Princeton Review is not affiliated with Princeton University. For more information, visit  PrincetonReview.com and the company's Media Center . Follow the company on Twitter ( @ThePrincetonRev ) and Instagram ( @theprincetonreview ).

SAT ® and AP ® are trademarks registered by the College Board, which is not affiliated with, and does not endorse The Princeton Review.

ACT ® is a trademark registered by ACT, In. which is not affiliated with, and does not endorse The Princeton Review.

Contact: Jeanne Krier, Publicist for The Princeton Review and Tutor.com, pressoffice@review.com .