One Year Since Launch, Official SAT® Practice on Khan Academy® Is Leveling the Playing Field for Students

NEW YORK, June 2, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A year ago today, Official SAT^® Practice for the new SAT went live on KhanAcademy.org, making free, world-class, personalized online practice available for all students. There are now more than 1.4 million unique users on Official SAT Practice on Khan Academy — this represents four times the total population of students who use all commercial test prep classes in a year combined. Data show that the practice platform is reaching students across race, ethnicities, and income levels — mirroring the percentage of SAT takers. Almost half of all SAT takers on March 5 used Official SAT Practice to prepare, causing a 19 percent drop in the number of students who paid for SAT prep resources.

The College Board and Khan Academy, a leader in online education, developed the interactive practice tools to create a world-class, tailored experience to help all students, regardless of income level or background, prepare for the new SAT and college-level courses. Official SAT Practice supports and reinforces what students are learning in the classroom by helping them focus on the knowledge and skills essential for college readiness. These are the only SAT practice tools built by the makers of the test, along with the online learning expertise of Khan Academy. When students receive their SAT or PSAT/NMSQT^® results, they can connect their College Board and Khan Academy accounts to get free, personalized study recommendations for the SAT. This represents one of the largest examples of personalized learning in the world: In less than six months, more than 450,000 students have taken advantage of that feature and have been able to focus their practice on areas that need the most work.

Into the second year, the College Board and Khan Academy will introduce new features, including additional practice tests, an opportunity to get help from subject-matter experts, live instruction sessions on Facebook Live, and new partnerships to help more students prepare for the SAT.

"We partnered with Khan Academy to revolutionize the way students practice for the SAT. We did this by providing free, world-class preparation for everyone. Now, one year later, students are seizing that opportunity in ways that exceed our highest expectations," said College Board President David Coleman. "For the first time, there is equality of access to SAT practice. Students from all backgrounds are empowered and are using these practice tools. In classrooms from Orange County, Florida, to Long Beach, California, educators and students across the country are working together to prepare for success on the SAT and beyond."

"Our mission at Khan Academy is a free, world-class education for anyone, anywhere, and college readiness is a crucial part of that," said Khan Academy Founder and Executive Director Sal Khan. "We partnered with the College Board because we wanted to help students achieve their goals through hard work and real learning, regardless of how much money they have. We've been humbled by the great reception Official SAT Practice on Khan Academy has received so far, but this is just the beginning. We're in this for the long haul and are invested in building the world's best SAT resources — that just happen to be free."

Official SAT Practice features four full-length practice tests written by the College Board and made available through Khan Academy. More tests will be added over time, including a fifth practice test this summer. Official SAT Practice also includes more than four thousand practice questions; video lessons; diagnostic quizzes to identify skills to focus on; personalized practice recommendations directly tied to specific skills on the test; and instant feedback on answers so students are always learning and seeing their progress.

To help as many students as possible, the College Board and Khan Academy are partnering with school districts, nonprofit organizations, and college access organizations that are working side by side with students and integrating Official SAT Practice on Khan Academy tools into their classrooms and programs.

Students using Official SAT Practice have emphasized the importance of building confidence through practice. The College Board and Khan Academy created a video — "Confidence" — celebrating the ability of students to walk in on test day knowing they've done what it takes to be prepared.

About the College Board

The College Board is a mission-driven not-for-profit organization that connects students to college success and opportunity. Founded in 1900, the College Board was created to expand access to higher education. Today, the membership association is made up of over 6,000 of the world's leading educational institutions and is dedicated to promoting excellence and equity in education. Each year, the College Board helps more than seven million students prepare for a successful transition to college through programs and services in college readiness and college success — including the SAT^® and the Advanced Placement Program^®. The organization also serves the education community through research and advocacy on behalf of students, educators, and schools. For further information, visit www.collegeboard.org.

About Khan Academy

Khan Academy is a 501(c)3 nonprofit on a mission to provide a free, world-class education for anyone, anywhere. We believe that students of all ages should have free, unlimited access to the best educational content and that they should be able to consume and master this content at their own pace. In addition, we believe that there are incredible opportunities to use intelligent software development, deep data analytics, and intuitive user interfaces to more effectively present these educational resources to students and teachers around the world. Our content library covers a wide range of topics, from kindergarten to early college math, biology, chemistry, physics, economics, finance, and history. We have over 37 million registered students and have delivered over 700 million lessons and 4.85 billion exercise problems. For further information, visit www.khanacademy.org.

SOURCE The College Board