On Tuesday, January 25th 2022, the College Board announced that the SAT is going fully digital. The move starts with international students in Fall 2023 and American students in Spring 2024. Here’s what you need to know about how these changes affect your SAT testing experience.
Exam Content
The new SAT is a more practical examination of a student’s aptitude. The math section will be entirely calculator-friendly, as opposed to dividing it into a calculator and non-calculator section. Passages on the reading section will be trimmed down, with content more relevant to college coursework. Questions for both sections will be more straightforward.
A more efficient test makes for a more efficient testing experience and more effective student assessment. The SAT test will remain on its classic 1600 point scale. Questions are still multiple choice. The test duration will decrease from three hours to two hours, and while the College Board hasn’t released the exact formatting data, they did state students “will have more time per question” on the digital SAT.
The Testing Experience
The SAT will be held on a special app developed by the College Board. The SAT can still only be taken at proctored settings approved by the College Board. As such, test locations remain limited to a school or testing center. Students will not be penalized for internet or power outages during testing. The College Board will loan computers to students without. Students will receive their test scores days after their exam date as opposed to waiting for weeks.
The new SAT format rollout is staggered. International students are the first to go digital in Spring 2023. Domestically, the PSAT goes digital in Fall 2023. Finally, the SAT itself transitions in Spring 2024. This includes SAT School Day. The SAT will no longer be offered in physical form afterwards.
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Further Reading
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