Aspiring SAT test-takers were greeted with a welcome overhaul of the testing this year. College Board, the non-profit that administers and develops the SAT along with other standardised tests and curricula, introduced new modifications to the SAT, chief among which will be its new digital avatar. The SAT, or Scholastic Assessment Test, is a multiple-choice exam that tests for ‘college-readiness’; however, the rigidity, stress and length of the test along with the barriers presented by the global coronavirus pandemic have brought attention to pre-existing structural divides that create huge disparities in testing college-readiness reliably.
No more paper wasted circling bubbles, long testing hours or waiting times for results. This format will be rolled out in stages – internationally, at first, in 2023, and then in the United States in 2024; in fact, in a pilot launch of the test, 80% of the participants reported the digital test to be a less stressful experience overall than the traditional paper test. As 1,800 four-year colleges plan to make standardised testing optional while hinging admission on other factors like extracurricular activities, recommendation letters and essays, the new changes to the SAT are a necessary adaptation to the evolving demands that colleges can realistically expect to test through the SAT.
Overall, the new changes to the test are aimed at making the test more approachable, convenient and inclusive, given the constraints of access to technology and preparation material. Apart from the general format of a maximum score of 1,600 points and testing that takes place on three subjects – reading, writing and maths – there have been some wide-ranging changes designed to alter the experience of giving the test, making it more conducive to better performance. So let’s take a look at some of these changes:
- Digital format: While this test cannot be taken at home yet, the College Board has facilitated a more convenient testing experience which allows students to take the test on a laptop, tablet, school-provided device, or even a device borrowed from College Board. This is especially important as it is inclusive of children from low-income families. The test will also be conducted under the supervision of a proctor, as before, and the difficulty of subsequent questions will intelligently adapt to the performance of the participant.
- Shortened Test Day: College Board has reduced the duration of the exam from three hours down to two. This extends to the experience of the questions too: rather than facing complicated blocks of texts, each tied to the one before, the questions will still be analytically complex while reducing how lengthy the passages are. The digital nature of the format also makes it more environmentally sustainable, as the proctors can save up on time and money by avoiding the packing, organizing and provision of test materials.
- Use of Graphing Calculators Allowed: The use of a calculator will now be used across the board while attempting the maths section; this is contrary to the previous case where only a section of the maths segment allowed a calculator. Now, the calculator can either be brought from home or will be provided on the day of the test since they are fairly expensive, and doing so reduces the test daybarriers
- Expedited Results: Due to the digital nature of the test now, the sheets submitted by the students containing the circled bubbles in an SAT attempt will now be followed up by the score reports, in a matter of days. The content within the report itself will undergo a more wholesome transition, as the College Board plans to include resources about local community colleges, workforce training and career options on top of simply percentile rankings and the student’s score (which was always present).
