The Digital SAT and Its Advantages

Scholastic Assessment Test: SAT

The Scholastic Assessment Test or SAT is an admission prerequisite to most US colleges. Conducted by the College Board, SATs aim at testing students’ literacy, numerical, and writing skills. Typically taken by high school junior and senior students, it tests the students’  analysis and problem-solving skills and enables them to gauge their college readiness.

Till December 2022, SAT used to be a three-hour long pencil-paper standardized test but this year onwards, the SAT exam has become digital for all international applicants.

From Spring 2023 onwards, the SATs will be conducted online with a duration of two hours as compared to the current three-hour paper-based test. The digital SATs for international students will be available from spring 2023 whereas US students will only be able to take the exam online from spring 2024.

The Digital SAT and Its Advantages

1. Shorter time duration- The College Board has addressed the problem of test fatigue by reducing the time duration to two hours from three hours.
2. Shorter sections in the exam- In addition to reducing the time duration, the new SAT also allows more time per question by making the reading passages smaller and giving direct questions. These passages will now be based on contemporary finance, economics, and environmental issues.
3. Use of calculators- The current format of SAT consists of one math section with calculator usage and one without. With the introduction of revised guidelines, College Board now allows the student to use a built-in calculator available on the test screen for the entire math section. Additionally, students can also expect more straightforward questions with an emphasis on geometry, trigonometry, algebra, and word problems.
4. Digital SATs are computer-adaptive- This is a form of testing that adjusts the difficulty level based on the candidate’s responses. Making SATs computer adaptive means that students’ performance in the first section will determine the difficulty level of the questions in other sections. Apart from delivering the results immediately to the administrator, it also measures a candidate’s ability on a common scale, more accurately.
5. Faster result announcement- While it takes two to six weeks to announce the results for the current paper-based version of SATs, the new digital SAT will significantly reduce the wait time by delivering the results within days rather than weeks. This will allow students to send their scores to the short-listed colleges early and make prompt college-related decisions.

Things that remain the same

The new digital SATs aim to test college readiness and not endurance and speed. Thereby, while there are significant changes made to the current format, some features of the older version remain, which are as follows:

1. How SATs are used by colleges for evaluation.
2. The course of preparation by students.
3. The total score remains 1600.

FAQs

Q1. When will it be applicable?

Spring 2023 onwards for international students.

Spring 2024 onwards for USA students.

Q2. What will be the duration of the test?

2 hours

Q3. How many modules are there in the New Digital SAT?

There are two modules in the New digital SAT- the reading and writing section, and the math section.

Q4. Are calculators allowed in the Digital SAT?

Students will be able to use an in-built calculator on the test screen for the entire math section.

If this article answers your queries, check our website – www.collegecore.com for more informative articles. For assistance related to Undergraduate College Applications and Admissions, please book an appointment with Ms. Urvashi Malik, Founder – CollegeCore Education.