CollegeBoard has decided to shift the SAT exam from physical to digital mode in 2023. The change is made in keeping pace with the digitisation of the world with the test becoming more tech-savvy for students. More than 25,000 Indian students take the test every year.
Previously, SAT was conducted in pen and paper mode that tested the language and mathematical skills of students aspiring to study bachelor’s degree abroad specially in countries like the USA and Canada. The writing and language section contains evidence-based reading and writing components. On the other hand, the mathematics part contains Heart of Algebra, problem-solving and data analysis and advanced maths.
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The new digital SAT is set to be launched in March 2023. The names of the sections have been altered. Now the first section is known as Reading and Writing and the second section is called Mathematics. It is anticipated that the sections will measure the same knowledge and skills using various academic reading and writing passages and mathematics portions that determine the college readiness of students.
The duration of the Digital SAT is 2 hours and 14 minutes as compared to the traditional three hours SAT exam. 64 minutes have been allotted for the Reading and Writing sections while 70 minutes are reserved for the Mathematics section. The SAT exam will now provide more time for students to solve each question.
The earlier two sections of Reading and Writing and Language have been compressed into one Reading and Writing section. The passages will be shorter in length with a single discrete question associated with each passage or passage pair. The types of questions have been broadly classified into Craft & Structure, Information & Ideas, Standard English Conventions, and Expression of Ideas.
In the quantitative aptitude section, the range of topics has been widened. Earlier there were two sections: one was without a calculator and the other was with a calculator. Now calculators are allowed throughout all the sections of the mathematics exam. The length of word problems has also been reduced. The sections have been divided into Algebra, Advanced Math, Problem-Solving and Data Analysis, Geometry and Trignometry.
The digital tools that students will be able to use include Mark for Review, testing timer, calculator, reference sheet and annotation.
The digital SAT exam will be “Multistage Adaptive Testing” which will allow the SAT questions to adapt to the student’s performance levels. There will be two modules in the exam with easy, medium and hard questions in Module 1 and Module 2 will be a mix of questions of different difficulty levels based on performance in Module 1. The students will be able to navigate freely through the module’s questions and can preview or mark earlier questions.
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Students are advised to keep an eye on the new resources available on the website of SAT. Adaptive tests have been released on their app “Bluebook”. The SAT scores will also be released faster. The test will be more secure and give a unique form.
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Source: CollegeBoard, The Economic Times