While the October 2020 SAT was completely different from other recent administered tests (read HERE) - the College Board decided to swing back completely and then some on the March 2021 Reading Test.

It is no secret that that secret to success on the SAT is critical textual analysis! BUT once mastered - the student also needs to know how to find the relevant text in the passage. Locating & textual analysis or just textual analysis = SAT Reading test skills!

The October 2020 test saw a huge uptick in emphasis on textual analysis while the March 2021 test went back to a greater emphasis on locating the text. October 2020 had but 11 questions that required locating the text - where the March 2021 had 17 (March 2020 had 18!).

The March 2021 test included but 4 (!!!) straight textual analysis questions - where the October 2020 test had 11 (March 2020 had 8!).

Whether an emphasis on locating + analysis or an emphasis just just analysis - these differences have massive implications which reading strategies will be most successful on the test!

In other words - the College Board is certainly keeping us on our toes!