The era of No. 2 pencils and fill-in-the-bubble sheets is officially over. This month, thousands of students nationwide sat for the first-ever digital SAT. The digital test format marks the beginning of a new era in college admissions testing, where traditional paper and pencil tests are being phased out in favor of their digital counterparts.
The new digital format is not without controversy, as it differs from the traditional paper test in a few key areas. The biggest change is that the test is now significantly shorter. While the traditional test took over three hours to complete, the digital version clocks in at two hours and fifteen minutes.
The number and style of the questions have also changed. Historically, students were required to answer a total of 154 questions for the test. With the digital SAT, students answer a total of 98 questions.
According to a press release from the College Board, the organization that develops and administers the test, the new format allows for “more time per question, and will feature more texts, topics, and authors that reflect the diversity of our students.”
Another significant change to the test is that it uses multistage adaptive testing (MST). This means that for each of the two categories (reading/math) of the test, there are two modules, four modules in total. Students complete the first module and based on their performance, are presented with more or less challenging questions in the second module.
Essentially, the test now “adapts” to each student. This testing approach is controversial.
“I knew going in that I had to do really well on the first math and reading modules. There was no room for error.”
Alex Dardarian ’25
Fifth Former Alex Dardarian, who took the SAT with the new format on Saturday, March 9, says that the adaptive format adds pressure to the test.
“I knew going in that I had to do really well on the first math and reading modules. There was no room for error,” Dardarian said.
In an era where high school students are under immense pressure and the college admission process is more competitive—and perhaps cutthroat—than at any time in history, the format adds another layer of stress.
The College Board claims that the adapting testing “maintains assessment precision with fewer test questions as compared to the [paper] SAT, allowing for shorter tests that nonetheless retain the reliability of longer ones”.
However, questions about the adaptive model remain. The College Board has not addressed how the new digital SAT can be comparable when students are being given different tests – even when they test on the same day.
Another criticism of the new format is the shorter reading passages. Historically SAT reading passages were up to a page in length followed by multiple questions, but that does not work as well on a screen, so, now, passages are a single paragraph with a single question.
Given the change in structure and format, many believed that the new digital format was going to be easier, but according to test takers, the test was very challenging.
In online student forums, several commenters noted that the Bluebook practice tests released by the College Board were far easier than the real test and therefore did not help prepare students. There were also many complaints about the vast difference in challenge level between the first and second modules.
“It was far harder than any of the practice tests.”
Alex krey ’25
“It was far harder than any of the practice tests,” Fifth Former Alex Krey said.
In addition to the SAT format change, the landscape of standardized testing in college admissions is also evolving. During the pandemic, most colleges and universities went test-optional, but highly selective schools are now reversing that decision.
Since the beginning of the year Dartmouth, Yale, and Brown have all reverted to requiring standardized testing for admission. The University of Pennsylvania, Columbia, and Cornell remain test-optional, for now.
No matter the format, it appears that standardized testing will continue to be an important part of the college admission process.
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