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SAT’s Next Chapter About to Be Written

Debut of Essay Highlights Changes to Admissions Test

At South Lakes High School in Reston, Va., the SAT is serious business.

Each year, more than 75 percent of the school’s students take the college-admissions test. The walls of its career center are adorned with pennants from universities across the country, symbols of where thousands of the school’s students have matriculated over the years.

This strong commitment to higher education, Principal Realista Rodriguez points out, comes in a school of diverse backgrounds. Nearly half its 1,600 students are members of ethnic or racial minority groups, and many do not speak English as their first language. Almost one-fourth of South Lakes’ students receive...