In early 2022 the College Board announced the SAT was going digital by 2023. This means that international students will be taking the test digitally in the spring. Following that, the PSAT will be digital for everyone in the fall, and by 2024 the SAT will be fully taken online. This opens more flexibility for the test takers without restrictions that were held with the paper version. 

With this new testing platform, many things will remain the same but a few things will be added to make the test more simple. The test time has been reduced from three hours to two hours, and the math sections will now allow you to use a calculator on both of the sections, even adding a built-in one on the testing site. 

“I’ve done proctoring for online testing before and one of the biggest things that are important is to get some familiarity with the testing platform,” English teacher Whitney Shumate said. “There is a different learning curve with online tests like students with accommodations should have some familiarity with the test since it’s a new thing. With this new test, students should at least have some practice with the new platform.”

Online testing in general is making its way to every important test and the SAT is just one of many. By moving the SAT online it is looking to have a positive outcome for everyone, even by cutting back costs and making this test more efficient for everyone.

“I would prefer digital because bubbling in the answer was annoying and just putting in the answers online would be more efficient,” Junior Abby Oden said. 

A concern seen by some is if this digital platform will affect other students’ test scores. One of the main purposes of the digital test was to make it more accessible for everyone including the teachers giving it and the students taking it. Even in studies directed by others, online testing is better overall for the environment and efficiency, students tend to do better. 

“I do think there will be an improvement in scores,” Shumate said. “After the STAAR test moved online they used a different grading scale with the online test and they saw better scores with the improvement of earlier scores. I hope they see that for the SAT as well.”