By Benjamin Hong, Staff Writer
In the fall of 2023, the SAT Suite of Assessments, composed of the SAT, PSAT, and their respective variants, will complete its transition into the digital world. This shift has been in the works for years, and as the College Board’s plans finally come to fruition, students and teachers alike are expressing mixed opinions on the new format.
College Board began the shift to digital in 2021 after the lockdown began, with the aim being that this new style of standardized testing would prove to be more than simply a transfer from one medium to another. From a shorter testing window to briefer and more varied reading passages, many aspects of the test are being reworked to better fit a digital format.
The Board believes that a multitude of issues with the paper format, from the long turnaround time for score reports to a lack of college-relevant material, will be remedied by these changes, with Priscilla Rodriguez, the vice president of College Readiness Assessments at College Board, declaring that “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.” And in many aspects, this appears to have been successful, as a study run by the College Board found that 80% of students and 100% of teachers who took part in the digital pilot found it to be a “positive experience.”
With surveys of pilot program participants showing overwhelmingly positive responses, the digital tests seem to have succeeded in improving upon the existing exam structure. However, this has not prevented many test takers from still harboring concerns. Sara Khan, a sophomore and the President of the Class of 2025’s SGA, noted that “as sophomores, my classmates and I have taken the PSAT twice to serve as practice for both the SAT and the junior year PSAT. Both of these tests were on paper and for many were the first exposure to the SAT, yet now we are expected to go into next year in which the PSAT actually matters with much of our practice invalidated. Many students have set up their unique timing systems and ways of getting through all the questions, but these will be completely uprooted as the digital test will change things” that may seem completely harmless, or indeed even beneficial to change, but could in the long run cause these students to “struggle and therefore be at a disadvantage to qualify for the National Merit Scholarship” and other such awards.
Despite the inherent disadvantages for students taking these critical tests during a time of transition, there are still many merits to the digital SAT that have not been overlooked. Pamela Land, an English teacher here at River Hill, states that she doesn’t “see that it being digital is going to be any different. Most tests we take now are digital, and the SAT has kind of been the horse lagging behind if you will. We live in a digital world and we can’t deny it, and I know most of my students would prefer to read a book online than hold a book.” And while she does not have the most positive view of “standardized tests as a concept,” Land does point out that the SAT and PSAT “being fully digital makes it more accessible for students who have learning differences since it can accommodate those differences much more effectively than a more traditional test can.”
The digitization of the SAT Suite of Assessments is not without criticism, and it has a high likelihood of adversely impacting millions of students nationwide in the short term. However, the many advantages it brings cannot be ignored, and it will in all likelihood serve as a step forward in more inclusive testing for years to come.