Policy Shift Lets Students Withhold Low SAT Scores

Students who take the SAT more than once will soon be able to cherry-pick which scores they want colleges to see, rather than have those institutions automatically receive all of their scores, under a policy change by the College Board.

Officials of the College Board, the New York City-based nonprofit organization that owns the SAT, said that the change, effective for the class of 2010, will relieve student stress and will not detract from the value of the widely used college-entrance exam.

Some observers contend, though, that the change will give wealthier students an unfair advantage because they can afford to pay the costs of private SAT-prep tutoring and the fees for taking...