The newly overhauled SAT exam, which puts a heavier emphasis on reading comprehension, may affect the performance of Chinese students, who have traditionally excelled in the math part of the test and relied heavily on rote memorization and cramming.

The new test will feature longer and more difficult reading passages, as well as wordier math problems that the College Board, which administers the test, said will test students on their real-world applications. Short sentence-completion questions will be eliminated, and students will have to figure out the meaning of vocabulary in reading passages.

The writing section will be optional for students applying to schools that require it, and maximum scores are going back to 1600 - down from the 2400 points for the tests administered between 2005 and this year.