Ava Stone

Beginning in 2024, the SAT will be a wholly digital assessment.

College Board announced their decision to remove the written SAT option and turn fully digital starting January 2024. Students are now required to use laptops and tablets to take the test, even during the school testing dates. 

Although international students had previously taken digital SATs, the seemingly sudden switch to an entirely digital system shocks some students. Sophomore Claire Nang is hesitant about this change.

“I’m nervous because I don’t know how it’s going to change and how it’s going to affect the grading,”  said Nang. “I’m also kind of worried about [the adaptive testing]. I just don’t know how accurate the questions are.”

Adaptive testing is when the questions change in difficulty based on the responses that are being given. The digital SAT will also be an hour shorter, although it keeps the score range of the paper SAT.

Other than the time changes, Merit House School Counselor and school coordinator for the Saturday SAT, Lisa Lassandrello explains that administering the exams will get a bit simpler due to students being able to take the test on their school-issued Chromebooks.

“Once we have [technological difficulties] sorted out, the administering of the exam will be a little more streamlined,” Lassandrello said. “It’ll be a little easier. We won’t have boxes and boxes of materials to receive, ship back, count, and all of that.”

As a member of the SAT/ACT Tutoring Club, junior Atharva Bir Dutta outlines that preparation for the digital SAT will reference both old and changing aspects of the test

“The preparation of tests will have to change for the English portion to accommodate the shorter passages for the reading/writing section,” said Bir Dutta. “I would still have some practice with the long passages from the old SAT, so as to expose students to a more difficult question style.”

The change from paper to digital also seems to foster hope for other alterations that would allow more people to have the means to take the SAT.

“The digitalization of the SAT, if the prices go down, is a step towards more inclusivity of the test and also higher availability, since it can be taken by anybody with internet access and a College Board-approved proctor in the room,” Bir Dutta said. 

More information can be found on the College Board website as they update their information and frequently asked questions pages.