Panel Proposes SAT like National Test After Class 12th for College Admissions

With an aim to reduce the stress levels of students who have passed Class 12th exams and are planning to take college admissions for higher education, a panel has proposed a SAT-like national test that would be open to all students, irrespective of their education board. The Union HRD ministry will now take a call on the proposal.

In the United States, high school juniors and seniors take SAT, which measures the literacy and writing skills needed for academic success in colleges. When introduced, SAT was intended to replace individual tests that were being conducted in the United States for each university, something on the lines of the entrance exam format in India.

Presently in our country, Class 12 students have to appear in a variety of entrance exams to pursue higher education in their field of interest, which increases anxiety and stress among students.

Along with a national test for college admissions, the proposal, which has been drafted by the committee that formulated the National Policy of Education 2022, also proposes holding Class 10 exams at two levels, higher and lower, especially in Mathematics and Science, for the same syllabus. This will give students, who plan to drop these subjects in Class 11, the flexibility to choose the lower exam, instead of the higher one, thereby helping reduce stress and anxiety.