The SAT test will go all-digital starting in 2024
By Eric Levenson, CNN
(CNN) -- The SAT test taken by prospective college students across the country will go all-digital starting in 2024, the College Board announced in a statement Tuesday.
"The digital SAT will be easier to take, easier to give, and more relevant," said Priscilla Rodriguez, vice president of College Readiness Assessments at College Board. "We're not simply putting the current SAT on a digital platform -- 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."
The transition comes months after the College Board pilot-tested a digital SAT in November 2021 in the US and internationally. 80% of students said they found it less stressful, and 100% of educators reported a positive experience, according to the College Board.
The move to a digital test will apply to all of the SAT Suite. The PSATs and international SAT will go digital in 2023 followed by the US SAT a year later.
In addition, the digital SAT will be shortened from 3 hours to 2 hours, with more time per question, will feature shorter reading passages, and will "reflect a wider range of topics that represent the works students read in college," the College Board said.
No. 2 pencils will no longer be needed, and calculators will be allowed in the entire Math section.
The decision comes as the College Board has felt increasing pressure to change its stress-inducing test in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic and the test's growing irrelevance. A number of universities have dropped requirements that applicants take the SAT or ACT, and the 2019 college admissions scam revealed the extent to which wealthy people can manipulate the testing system to their own advantage.
The-CNN-Wire
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