A shorter and on-line model of the SAT faculty admission examination debuted Saturday, and the School Board — the corporate behind the check — has already declared the swap from the longer, paper model a hit.
Greater than 200,000 college students took the digital SAT at 3,000 check facilities in 173 international locations. Of these check takers, 99.8% efficiently accomplished the examination and submitted their outcomes by the School Board’s new digital testing app Bluebook.
Collectively, greater than 400,000 college students final week took the digital PSAT 10, which is taken by tenth graders, and PSAT 8/9, which is for eighth and ninth graders.
The digital SAT is shorter, clocking in at simply over two hours, in comparison with three hours for the previous paper and pencil check. For the brand new model, college students could use their very own computer systems or school-issued units, or they’ll borrow a tool from the School Board.
The brand new check has shorter passages for the studying and writing sections, and college students can deliver their very own calculator or use a built-in graphing calculator.
“Our aim was to supply a testing expertise that’s extra related to as we speak’s college students and is much less worrying for college kids to take and simpler for educators to manage,” Priscilla Rodriguez, senior vp of School Readiness Assessments at School Board, stated in a Tuesday assertion.
The assertion additionally stated the SAT performs “a significant function in a holistic admissions course of” and that the check scores “can verify a scholar’s grades or show their strengths past what their highschool grades could present.”
Nevertheless, FairTest, a bunch that advocates for restricted software of entrance exams, criticizes the up to date check as being more economical for the School Board to ship and rating, whereas not fixing sure challenges for colleges, counselors or college students. Particularly, FairTest raised issues about gender, race and revenue disparities amongst check takers.
“The digital SAT nonetheless creates burdens on counselors and colleges to supply free labor to the School Board. The digital SAT remains to be prone to check preparation,” FairTest’s web site stated.
The brand new digital possibility comes as establishments like Yale College and Dartmouth School are reinstating standardized check necessities. Some schools had begun shifting to test-optional insurance policies previous to the pandemic as a method of accelerating the dimensions and variety of applicant swimming pools by putting extra emphasis on strengths that may’t be showcased in a check. However the onset of COVID-19 accelerated the motion when testing websites needed to shut down for well being and security causes.
For fall 2025, greater than 1,800 universities together with Cornell, Columbia and Harvard received’t require the SAT or ACT, in line with FairTest.
