SAT scores across Maryland took the largest drop of all states this year, following a nationwide decline of scores as a revamped, longer version of the test was introduced.

University System of Maryland officials worry the state’s plunge, which doubled the national average, could cause a ripple effect in the state’s university system as students with lower scores apply to college. Officials here said this year’s freshman class was not affected by the drop, partly because the class size was smaller, which usually indicates a concentration of high achievers.

“In our applicant pool we noticed a decline, but our enrolling class is strong,” said Kate Innes, assistant director of marketing for undergraduate admissions.

According to the College Board, the drop felt across the country was the largest in three decades, and system Chancellor Brit Kirwan said he expects scores to continue declining in years to come due to demographic shifts within the state.

“The SAT takers, the high school cohort, is increasingly lower-income and first in their families to go to college,” Kirwan said. “These students typically have lower SAT scores than the population at large.”

This year, about 69 percent of the freshmen class was from Maryland, and the system rules mandate that at least 70 percent of the entire undergraduate population must consist of Maryland residents, Associate Director for Undergraduate Admissions Shannon Gundy said.

“I think this really is a warning signal for us, and I think it will require that we step up some of our activities and programs,” Kirwan said.

To prepare for the change, Kirwan said, the system is reviewing advising programs for effectiveness and working to strengthen academic programs across the system, he said. Officials are also taking a hard look at retention efforts for freshmen and sophomores, since they are most likely to drop out of college and not return, he said.

This year, SAT scores for the incoming freshmen class were up slightly, ranging between 1240 and 1390. None of those scores include the writing section, however, which was implemented for the first time this year.

Kirwan added that the system plans to increase need-based financial aid “so that the neediest students don’t have to spend as much time working to cover the cost of their education,” he said.

Time spent at jobs takes away time for studies, Kirwan said, placing students at the lower end of the income scale at higher risk.

“I think those fiscal pressures often affect their ability to succeed in school,” he said.

A larger selection of remedial classes could also be offered in the next few years, Provost William Destler said, although university officials have not begun to increase the current range of classes offered.

“We do some degree of remedial work, especially in math, and we’ve been very innovative in the area,” Destler said, referring to MATH 010: Algebra for MATH 110, which combines a high school algebra review with credit for MATH 110: Elementary Mathematical Models in the same semester.

To address the changing quality of education at the ground level, the system is in the beginning stages of bolstering teacher preparation programs directed at K-12, Kirwan said.

Despite the threat of worsening scores, Destler downplayed the notion that lowered SAT scores would affect the university’s U.S. News and World Report ranking: “We’ll still continue to get a better and better slice of that pie, whatever it is,” he said.

The College Board has repeatedly said the newly revised SAT is not to blame for the dramatic drop in scores this year. In a statement, the company said the lower number of students retaking the test causes the lowered scores, and denied that fatigue was a factor in the test, which was formerly 45 minutes shorter.

But Destler says the College Board might just be ignoring the problem.

“The test is a lot longer than it used to be,” he said. “No one seems to want to acknowledge it.”

He added the length has discouraged his son, a senior in high school, from taking the test multiple times.

“‘The test is too damn long, you just get exhausted,'” Destler said, imitating his son. “He said, ‘I’m not taking that test again.'”

Contact reporter Sara Murray at murraydbk@gmail.com.