The SAT, a widely recognized standardized test for college admission, is administered by the College Board and is mandatory for students who wish to pursue undergraduate studies overseas. The acronym SAT stands for Scholastic Assessment Test. The SAT was originally a pencil-and-paper test, but College Board recently did away with it and released a new version of the SAT, the Digital SAT Exam.
Why Digital SAT?
The digital SAT has two primary goals: to increase accessibility for students and to maintain the exam’s relevance in a fast-evolving digital environment. The digital SAT includes a number of crucial features that help it attain these objectives. Exam length will be reduced, and reading passages and questions will be more succinct. Additionally, test-takers will have more access to digital resources overall. These modifications are intended to improve students’ test-taking efficiency and comfort. Additionally, all SAT portions will have improved material and formats that will measure the abilities students need to thrive in college and in the workplace. The purpose of the digital SAT is to better prepare students for their future endeavours by being in line with their digital learning experiences.
Through their official score report, the digital SAT also offers students more individualized college and career assistance. Students will receive materials to help them connect with nearby two-year colleges and workforce training programs in addition to information about four-year universities. Additionally, they will learn how their exam results may relate to particular job opportunities. These score report improvements will support The College Board’s mission of assisting students in making well-informed decisions about their future.
How is the digital SAT different from the traditional SAT?
The SAT exam will now be taken digitally on a laptop or tablet utilizing the Bluebook application. The exam will include two sections—Reading and Writing and Math—and last for two hours and fourteen minutes. There will be two modules in each segment, and they must be finished sequentially. Each student’s exam will be unique thanks to the adaptive testing function. The Reading passages will be shorter and each passage will only have one relevant question in order to make the exam more user-friendly. The reading and math portions’ questions will be shorter and more to the point. During the test, students will have access to a number of resources, such as a digital countdown clock, the option to mark questions for later review, a built-in graphing calculator, and a digital maths cheat sheet. For the entirety of the Math section, students may use a graphing calculator. Within a few days of the exam, candidates can anticipate receiving their official score reports. Additionally, to practice for the test, students can use the Bluebook app to complete full-length practice examinations.
The Digital SAT Timeline:
The switch to a wholly digital format for the SAT exam is among the biggest modifications. The first digital SAT exam date will be on March 11, 2023, and it will only be available to students from other countries. The registration deadline is February 24, 2023. Beginning in March 2023, all foreign SAT tests will be delivered digitally. Additionally, in order to better prepare students for the digital SAT, the PSAT/NMSQT and the PSAT 8/9 will switch to a new digital format in the fall of 2023. The digital SAT won’t be available until March 2024 for US students. The deadline for registration is February 23, 2024, and the first digital SAT exam for US students will likely take place on March 9, 2024. Beginning in March 2024, all SAT tests taken in the US and abroad will be given online.
