Sophomore and junior class members, look out! Coming spring 2016: the redesigned SAT. Your last chance to take the current SAT will be in January 2015, because come March 2016, the test will be 50 minutes shorter, 800 points fewer, and a different style of testing that claims it will better students for college coursework.

Currently, the SAT consists of critical reading, math, and writing sections with a mandatory essay totaling  3 hours and 45 minutes. There are 161 multiple choice questions with 10 grid-in questions for math sections. Each multiple choice question has five answers to choose from, and 1/4 point is deducted for each incorrect answer. The essay is scored by two readers, and those scores contribute to the overall writing section score.

The new SAT is reported to be a more straightforward test with fewer penalties. The essay will be optional, and scored separately from the writing section.  There will be 141 multiple choice questions and 13 grid-in questions for the math sections. This test will have only four options for each multiple choice compared to five from the old SAT. There will be NO penalty for wrong answers.

According to the College Board, the new SAT will produce more sub-scores that will “paint a clearer picture of [the students] abilities.” The new SAT will have 100 minutes of Evidence-based Reading and Writing sections with an 80-minute math section.