The SAT test will soon transition to a shorter, fully-online format that its organizers say will reduce the time students wait for results from weeks to a matter of days.
For decades, the test entailed a marathon three-hour session of No. 2 pencils, bubbled-in answers and carefully handwritten responses.
Now, the College Board said Tuesday, the SAT will be taken entirely online, drop from three hours to two, and allow students more time on each question. The reading portion of the test will be shorter and calculators will be allowed for the entire math section. And while in the past, high schoolers have waited weeks to learn how they performed, results will now be available in a matter of days.
The new format on the test, which high school students typically take before applying to college, will roll out in 2024 in the United States and in 2023 in other countries. The PSAT will make similar changes in 2023.
Following a pilot of an all-online SAT conducted in November, the College Board said 80% of students reported they found it less stressful than the prior format.
Natalia Cossio, an 11th grade student in Fairfax County, Virginia, said the online test pilot was “a lot less stressful, and whole lot quicker” than she thought it would be.
“The shorter passages helped me concentrate more on what the question wanted me to do,” Cossio said. “Plus, you don’t have to remember to bring a calculator or a pencil.”
Many longtime features and goals of the test will remain the same. It will still be scored on 1600-point scale and administered from a testing center with a proctor present. But students will be able to take the test from their own laptop or tablet, or a school-issued device. The College Board said it will supply a laptop fro those who don’t have access to one.
The changes come as many colleges say they will no longer require students to submit standardized test scores from the SAT or ACT, a similar test, with their applications.
The University of Massachusetts Amherst said in July of 2020 that it would temporarily be “test optional” during the COVID-19 pandemic, a period in which studying for and taking the test became an increased burden for many students. Only about one-third of the school’s incoming class this fall had a test score included in their application.
“The digital SAT will be easier to take, easier to give, and more relevant,” Priscilla Rodriguez, College Board’s vice president of college readiness assessments, said in a statement. “We’re not simply putting the current SAT on a digital platform — we’re taking full advantage of what delivering an assessment digitally makes possible. With input from educators and students, we are adapting to ensure we continue to meet their evolving needs.”