SAT. Procrastination. Puberty. All integral parts of the high school experience. One of them just received a massive revamp, and no, it’s not puberty.
On January 25, 2022, College Board announced a swath of unprecedented reforms to the decades-old assessment. They’re digitizing the test, removing the need for paper and good ol’ yellow number two pencils forever. Test takers can take it on their own devices or those issued by their respective schools. Administrators will still continue to monitor students at designated test sites (guess, they didn’t figure out how to digitalize that one).
The actual test content has also been dramatically reshaped – stretching from three hours to two. Sections such as reading will now feature shorter reading passages alongside fewer questions to answer. Math, on the other hand, will now allow calculators on all of its distinct sections. Changes to the difficulty of the test are still unclear, but it would be best to assume it would stay constant.
Lastly, scores should come out much faster, especially since the digital tests will remove the need for administrators to ship completed tests to specified grading centers.
While some may be surprised at College Board’s changes, they have introduced an array of changes for the past couple of years for many good reasons. For instance, they scrubbed their subject tests and rid the SAT of a writing portion. I think they’re putting an extra emphasis on digitalization due to the Coronavirus as well as to increase the availability of the test (e.g., students in rural communities). I think they’re altering the content of the test due to fierce competition from rival ACT and the fact that many colleges are drifting away from mandating SAT/ACT scores. I’ve always considered the ACT as the more superior test due to its straightforward nature unlike the SAT where certain sections are purposefully vague. Additionally, colleges especially those in California are seeing less and less of the need for such standardized tests. Reforms to the test content might make them review their decisions and consider otherwise. Whatever direction the test takes, best of luck to all the future test takers!
