The SAT has been long regarded as one of the most important exams in every high school student’s life. However, with colleges adopting a test-optional policy and less weight being put on this test for admissions, some critical changes have been made to its format.
On January 15, 2022, College Board made an announcement on its blog stating that the SAT will begin transitioning to a digital platform by 2024. This means that students will have the opportunity to use their own devices to take the exam rather than working with the traditional pencil-paper format.
Pros
With this change comes many benefits. Students will be able to ensure that they are participating in a fair and equal system as the digital format will make unique test forms more feasible, allowing for questions to be reordered to diminish the possibility of collusion to gain an unfair advantage.
What’s more is that the digital system will allow students to receive their scores earlier, reducing the turnaround time from two weeks to only a few days. This way, there will be less anxiety as students count down the days until they receive their score, making the decision of whether or not they will have to take it again easier.
“We’re not simply putting the current SAT on a digital platform-we’re taking full advantage of what delivering an assessment digitally makes possible. With input from educators and students, we are adapting to ensure we continue to meet their evolving needs,” stated Priscilla Rodriguez, vice president of College Readiness Assessments at College Board, on the blog post.
What is Being Changed?
In addition to moving to a digital format, there will also be a few notable changes to the format of the test itself. For starters, the exam will be shorter, cutting down the total time to two hours instead of three, giving more time per question. Furthermore, the digital test will also have shorter reading passages with one question for each, with hopes being to cover a wider array of topics. Additionally, calculators will be permitted for the whole math section rather than for part of it.
Expectations for the Future
These changes will certainly change the future of standardized testing as we recognize it, and there are certainly some questions that arise: will there still be a “curve” to match the difficulty of the exam? Will the opportunity to take the pencil and paper format still exist? How will scoring change with the new changes to each section? Although we do not have the answers to these questions yet, more information will be coming in the near future as the digital exam begins to make its appearance in 2023.
In terms of the difference in difficulty, students who participated in the November pilot of the digital SAT stated that the test was actually less stressful than the current format. Many of the students cited that the reduced length in addition to the shorter passages made it easier to focus without feeling burnt out, especially with the fact that they no longer have to worry about bringing their own materials.
As colleges have proceeded to put less emphasis on standardized testing for admission, College Board took matters into their own hands to adhere to these universal transitions to make changes to their widely-renowned SAT exam. As the digital format is still about two years out from reaching the United States, more information will be released in regards to the common questions surrounding this monumental change.
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