This March, students will be taking the redesigned version of the SAT, and thanks to College Board’s partnership with Khan Academy, many will have access to a wide range of free tools to help aid them in their studying.

So what’s different about this new redesigned SAT?

For one, “[t]he revisions to the SAT to begin in March 2016 include a return to the original scoring system of 1,600 for combined math and the newly named 'evidenced-based reading’ subtests,” said The Conversation.

The essay portion is no longer required and is instead optional.

"This optional essay provides greater flexibility for students, particularly for those whose math skills may be much stronger than their writing skills. Such students will not be penalized for a lower writing score,” the article says.

There’s also some bad news for those who aren’t a big fan of Common Core math: the new SAT will feature math revisions that rely more on real-world problems typical of the Common Core as opposed to computation problems.

The Conversation worries that in states that aren’t as evolved in their teaching of Common Core math, this might confuse students.

On the bight side, students can look forward to being tested on less obscure vocabulary words that the SAT is known for throwing curve balls with; it will now include more commonly used words.

"What will be helpful to students is the change in the vocabulary section that has been redesigned to prioritize defining more commonly used words in context rather than the notoriously obscure SAT vocabulary of previous test versions,” the article says.

Students can also look forward to no longer being penalized for guessing wrong answers.

"Importantly, there will be no penalty for guessing on questions – previously a wrong answer got a penalty of a quarter-point.”

Critical reading, The Conversation says, is being renamed evidence-based reading and writing and will feature more non-fiction via historical documents to emphasize the increased teaching of non-fiction texts under the Common Core.

Here’s a summary of what the redesigned SAT will include:

• an original scoring system of 1,600 points
• an optional essay section
• a focus on real-world math problems via Common Core
• use of more common vocab words versus obscure ones
• no more penalization for incorrectly guessing
• a focus on non-fiction texts in the former critical reading section

Read the full article.

Article by Nicole Gorman, Education World Contributor

2/3/2016