The SAT has finally caught up to the digital age by dropping the bubble sheets and number two pencils in favor of laptops and tablets, according to a Tuesday announcement from the test’s administrators, College Board. Beginning internationally in March 2023, full integration of the digital test will happen in the United States by 2024.
While students will continue to take the exam at approved local testing sites, the new digital SAT ushers in several changes: its duration will decrease from three hours to two, it will contain shorter reading passages, and it will permit the use of calculators in the math section. For students who don’t have access to a laptop or tablet, one will be provided for them.
The SAT previously underwent changes in 2014 when College Board dropped the penalty for wrong answers and removed the essay and vocabulary portion. When the pandemic hit, many colleges and universities made submitting SAT scores optional.
However, the College Board says taking the SAT continues to “play a vital role in a holistic admissions process. When viewed within the context of where a student lives and learns, test scores can confirm a student’s grades or demonstrate their strengths beyond what their high school grades may show.”
Whether tests like the SAT and the ACT are fair — or legal — is another topic of conversation that has been reinvigorated by the announcement of the changes to the SAT. In a 2019 interview with NPR, Mark Rosenbaum, an attorney for the pro bono firm Public Counsel, stated, “What the SAT and ACT are doing [is] exacerbating inequities in the public school system and keeping out deserving students every admissions cycle.”
In November 2021, after years of debate and a lawsuit that claimed tests like the SAT were biased against students who came from less affluent backgrounds, the University of California, one of the largest institutions in the country, did away with standardized tests as a requirement for admission.
Kirsten Amematsro, a junior at Potomac High School in Dumfries, Virginia, told NPR she still sees the SAT as relevant: “[The test] definitely doesn’t offer the full profile of who a student is, it’s not like the missing piece, but it can make your application better. It just kind of speaks to what you can accomplish in your testing ability.”
In a 2014 New York Times article, College Board President David Coleman critiqued the SAT and ACT, saying the “tests are mysterious” and “filled with unproductive anxiety.”
Last fall, Amematsro took a pilot version of the new digital SAT. She said some of the stressors that make the test anxiety-inducing are alleviated with the online version.
“It felt more streamlined,” she said. “It’s just not as easy for me, honestly, to focus on the paper as it was the computer.”
Amemastro also added that being able to use her own laptop made her feel more comfortable because it was familiar to her. “I just feel like it’s easier for our generation because we’re so used to using technology.”
The College Board says the SAT will continue to be scored on the 1600 point scale and offer opportunities for free practice testing with Khan Academy. They contend the SAT will continue to connect students to scholarship opportunities and monitor the knowledge and skills that are most important for a college and professional career.
