ARIZONA, USA — Significant changes are coming for high school students across the country as one of the tests colleges use to determine admission steps into the 21st century.
The standardized test, SAT, will transition from paper and pencil to a digital test that is streamlined and shortened in hopes of becoming less intimidating for students and a more accurate reflection of today’s students' college readiness.
Biggest changes in nearly a century
Starting in 1926, the SAT was originally called the Scholastic Aptitude Test. Over time it came to be known officially as the SAT.
It has gone through changes and evolutions since its inception, but Dennis Yim, the Director of Academics at Kaplan, a company that offers SAT prep courses, says the latest changes are the biggest yet.
“These are some of the biggest changes in the nearly 100-year history of the SAT,” said Yim. “It's going from paper-pencil to a digital format. It's not going to be a take-home exam; you're still going to have to take it at a testing center at your school.”
Other changes include shortening the test from three hours to two hours and doing away with the essay portion of the test. According to College Board, the organization that administers the test, reading passages will be shortened and math questions will be less wordy, to allow the student to understand the heart of the question.
Practice still makes perfect
Yim says preparation for the new SAT will not change much. Students will still want to study the same materials to prepare themselves for the test.
“So, it's really about making sure you have the practice necessary and that you are extremely aware of what College Board is testing for and how you can take the right steps to get the right answer,” said Yim.
Yim has been teaching SAT prep classes for 15 years and is encouraged by the changes announced for the test. Still, he cautions, that doesn’t mean the test will be easier.
“I think the prep is going to be similar in the sense that you're going to want to take the same approach and get comfortable with what the exam tests you on,” said Yim. “It's about knowing what the content is, but it's also about execution. A lot of students get to this test and they find it challenging to be able to in those time conditions- do what they need to do get the question right.”
College for all
College Board plans to ensure that all students have access to a device they need to take the SAT. They state on their website:
“With the transition to digital tests, College Board is working to address inequities in access to technology. Students will be able to use their own device (laptop or tablet) or a school-issued device. If students don’t have a device to use, College Board will provide one for use on test day. If a student loses connectivity or power, the digital SAT has been designed to ensure they won’t lose their work or time while they reconnect.”
Yim sees the changes as a positive step for a nearly century-old institution. While most universities have made the SAT optional, Yim says Kaplan has heard from college recruiters that a good SAT score can still be advantageous for college-bound high schoolers.
Being optional, students now have the choice to share SAT scores with the colleges they are applying to.
“I think it’s safe to say the College Board realizes this as well, so they are just in line with this thinking: ‘let’s make it easier on the students, let’s make it shorter, let’s make it less stressful as well.’ So that they can have as many options as possible as they are applying,” said Yim.
Internationally, students will be able to take the new, digital version of the SAT starting in the Spring of 2023, while students in the U.S. will have to wait until the Spring of 2024 to take the digital test.
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