Why the Digital SAT Matters Now
The College Board announced a plan to transform the paper-based SAT into a condensed, adaptive digital assessment. Here’s why today’s students should care.
The future of work – including academic work – is digital. A truism for over 20 years, this mantra has only recently been embraced by American educational institutions. The Covid-19 pandemic compelled both higher ed and K-12 schools that coursework can (and to some degree, must) be completed online.
A digital SAT was bound to arise as part of this seismic shift in educational priorities. First floated over 18 months ago, the idea was placed on the back burner after the controversial rollout of at-home digital AP exams in 2020. But it returns now as the most practical way to solve a host of the SAT’s problems.
A Solution to SAT’s Problems
For one, a digitally administered exam is more secure. Paper-based tests are notoriously susceptible to leaking (well illustrated by a 2016 incident in India involving leaked IB Chemistry exams), not to mention forgery (Netflix’s Varsity Blues docu-drama, anyone?). A unique set of digital exam questions, delivered to each test-taker, prevents invalidating thousands of innocent students’ results.
Second, the adaptive format pioneered by ETS, creator of the GRE and longtime SAT collaborator with the College Board, has catapulted the GRE into a serious competitor with both the GMAT and the LSAT. This trend is primarily due to its flexibility (since it creates a unique test form for each student, the at-home GRE can be administered nearly 24/7) and ability to stratify student scores (crucial for a test with many high-scoring takers).
Finally, a digital, adaptive format allows the SAT to be shorter and more user-friendly. An adaptive test needs fewer problems to evaluate a student’s skill level. Further, the hassles of accurately bubbling a Scantron answer sheet or flipping back and forth between pages to locate an answer in a Reading passage are unnecessary sources of stress for students. With a digital exam, these stresses disappear – as digital natives, today’s students will be instantly adept at navigating the onscreen platform.
College Board is presumably hoping that these features can help reclaim SAT’s edge over ACT. But its real end-users are students themselves (and high school administrators). Let’s see how the digital SAT’s new features benefit students.
New features and timeline
The College Board recently outlined the new features to expect on the digital SAT, including the following changes:
Students will take the SAT on a laptop or tablet. Students can test on a personal device or a school-issued device. If students don't have a device, College Board will provide one on test day. Students will still test at a testing center with a live proctor present.
The test will be 1 hour shorter. The SAT will take about two hours instead of three and feature shorter reading passages, with one question tied to each.
Expect to get your scores faster. Students and educators will get the information they need to make key college decisions more quickly
Students can use their calculators on the entire math section. A powerful graphing calculator will be built into the testing app, but students can still bring their own if desired.
The digital SAT will be more secure and flexible. Each student will see a unique version of the test—and schools, districts, and states will have more flexibility in when to test.
The fully digital SAT will first be released to international students in the spring of 2023. Then, it will be rolled out in the US – first with a digital, school-hosted PSAT in the fall of 2023, followed by the digital SAT starting in March 2024. This change will go into effect for the Class of 2025 and following classes, giving students plenty of time to prepare.
Key takeaways for students
For current sophomores, juniors and seniors – relax. Since this change won’t go into effect in the US until the spring of 2024, you’re all set to continue prepping for the paper-and-pencil SAT we’ve known for years.
For current freshmen and younger: focus on building a strong academic record and improving your foundational skills in reading comprehension and math (especially in Algebra 1). By your sophomore year (depending on your goals and math track), you’ll be able to start preparing for the digital SAT with a suite of accessible practice test materials. We’ve navigated changes to the SAT before (most recently, the College Board’s 2016 overhaul), and our team is already working to adapt our curriculum and materials to help students effectively prepare for the new version of the test by 2023.
As we keep an eye on the test-optional movement, the digital SAT is a needed adjustment for the College Board to make its most popular product more accessible and relevant to an evolving educational and admissions landscape. It signals that testing isn’t likely to disappear overnight; indeed, part of College Board’s press release noted that the overwhelming majority of students want the option to submit test scores with their college applications. For most students, it’s wise to take the SAT or ACT to give yourself the option of submitting scores to schools where you can score in a competitive range.
Contact our team to learn more about creating your prep strategy, and to learn more about what this change means for you.