Coming to a School Near YOU
The new digital SAT test will debut in October 2023 with the PSAT, followed by the first national digital SAT test date on March 9, 2024. There have been five major changes since 1994, and as an SAT instructor and a college advisor, I have *weathered all five.
I have not liked some the changes, such as the 2004 elimination of vocabulary testing with antonyms and analogies. This change was, in my opinion, short sighted: Vocabulary is a significant part graduate exams (the GRE and GMAT). Students applying to grad school will have to cram for a more rigorous vocabulary secion than the SAT.
For the last fifteen years, however, the content hasn’t changed much, even though the formats have. Although there is some angst that always comes with change, I think the format will resonate with students.
The test time is now shorter: 2 hours and 14 minutes rather than 3 hours. The Reading and the Writing section will be shorter. Instead of long passages followed by several questions, there will be short passages followed by one question.
One of the most annoying aspect of previous Math SAT sections was the wordy questions. It seemed unclear whether reading comprehension or math ability was being assessed.
The test is now online: The App, Bluebook Testing, will be available from the College Board, so students should install it so they are familiar with interface tests. Testing will be available at testing centers and some schools. Students testing together will encounter different versions of the test so the chance so cheating are substantially reduced.
Most significantly, the test is adaptive, which mean there are two modules (stages) of questions, each module contain easy, medium and difficult problems or questions. At the end of the first module, the test will choose the appropriate module that the student will take next: one module will be on average easier, and one will be on average more difficult.
If the students takes both easier modules, a score of 200 to 600 on the two disciplines (Reading and Writing or Math) is possible. If the student takes the second, more difficult module , a score of 450 to 800 is possible. The scale remains basically the same as the other SAT tests: a possible total score of 1600.
The no-calculator section in math has been scrapped; the entire test can be taken with a calculator. Three pages of scrap paper will be allowed per student.
“Words in context” will be tested again in the digital section, which may result in some consternation among “non- readers”. Students who read often will have no problem; however, if the student isn’t a “reader”, a list of commonly used SAT words can be found on some SAT websites. If the student is lucky, a few on the list might appear on the test.
The shorter digital SAT will be less stressful, giving students more time to deliberate as well as an opportunity to take an easier module. Too often a student becomes discouraged with difficult questions. With the new adaptive modules, everyone has a crack at a decent score.
* “Weather” is an example of a word in context question. Words with varied meanings will often appear as one of the choices for a sentence completion.
