They are going old school. I like it. It's been shown in scientific studies that the essay portion is crap. Whoever writes the most words gets the highest score, even if it's word salad.
And now, when I tell my kids I got 1420 on my SAT back in the day they won't think I'm a moron.
If any of you have seen some of the word requirements of the old SAT you would be amazed. I graduated top of my class in college, did very well a top national law school, and I have been practicing law for 20 years. When I went to my daughter's SAT prep class I did not recognize a substantial portion of the words that were being used on the test. If I have never seen or heard of the words being used (given my education and vocation), maybe high school kids do not need to be tested on it as it provides no basis to determine success in college.
Maybe I shouldn't go down this hole, but I think there is value in testing the ability to determine the meaning of words through context and usage. I think this demonstrates interpretive and analytic skills that are useful in college, and learning in general. If the SAT is reduced to testing what has been taught and learned, then it would have no basis for determining success in college.