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The much-debated, oft-hated SAT is getting a makeover for the second time in nine years.

Starting in 2016, the college admissions test will be aligned more closely with what students study in high school and will confront in college. Those obscure vocabulary words that nobody uses will be gone, along with the bizarre scoring system that penalizes a wrong answer more than skipping a question altogether. Sounds like an improvement.

Other changes, such as going back to the old 1,600-point scale and making the essay optional, won't make much difference.

OPPOSING VIEW: New SAT fails the test

And none of this is likely to alter the test's inherent shortcomings. Higher scores invariably correlate to higher family income and education. Affluent students, already advantaged by better schools, can take expensive prep courses and arrange for private tutoring designed to boost scores. Poor students, often disadvantaged by weak schools, can't.

The creator of the test, the College Board, has turned itself inside out in a quest for fairness. But the answer won't be found by rejiggering the test in an effort to overcome intractable social problems. A smarter course is altering the way many colleges use — or misuse — the test to make admission decisions.

At too many colleges, the admission experience is infused with an unhealthy overemphasis on SAT scores. A 2008 report by a commission of college deans, counselors and admissions directors cited a number of examples, and little has changed.

The test scores of incoming freshman hold outsize importance in the U.S. News & World Report's closely watched rankings. The preliminary SAT, taken by high school sophomores and juniors, helps determine National Merit Scholarships. And some bond rating firms consider scores in evaluating colleges' economic health, putting more pressure on them to attract high scorers.

The most serious misuse comes at colleges that set a cutoff SAT or ACT score below which students will not be considered for admission. Some make a big deal about a 10-point score difference on the SAT critical reading portion, even though Philip Ballinger, University of Washington's vice provost for enrollment, says a 10-point difference is so insignificant that if the students took the SAT repeatedly, they'd probably switch places.

For all the SAT's flaws, dumping the test altogether is not the answer. Colleges need some standard yardstick, especially because grade inflation is rampant.

In 1993, 32% of SAT takers reported a grade point average of A-plus, A or A-minus. Last year, the number was up to 47%. It's hard to believe students have gotten that much smarter.

What's to be done?

A better approach is for schools to determine whether higher scores really do predict better success at their institutions and give scores the weight they deserve — as one piece of a mosaic that also include grades, activities and harder to quantify attributes such as motivation and maturity.

For now, the SAT and ACT are here to stay. And that's OK, if colleges have the smarts to put them in proper perspective.

USA TODAY's editorial opinions are decided by its Editorial Board, separate from the news staff. Most editorials are coupled with an opposing view — a unique USA TODAY feature.