For years high school students have headed to school each year with their number two pencils ready to take their SATs, the one exam that may help or hurt their chances at getting into college. Well, how those kids take that important test is about to change.
The College Board, the organization that administers the SAT, PSAT and other standardized tests, just announce that starting in 2024, all online entrance exams are going digital (for international students digital tests start in 2023). Not too much else will change regarding the test. Students will still have to take them in a proctored setting, like a school or testing center and it will still have multiple choice settings with a high score of 1600.
The digital version will take less time though, with the test running close to two hours, instead of the usual three. That’s due to the test relying on adaptive testing, which means it changes based on how students answer questions, reducing the time they spend on questions that may be too hard or easy. There will also be shorter reading sections, which will be related to material they’d read in college, plus students can now use calculators during math sections.
Another benefit? Students will no longer have to wait weeks for their scores, with results coming back in just days.
