SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – Don’t worry about sharpening your number two pencils anymore, instead get ready to charge your laptop to take the digital Scholastic Aptitude Test. In early March, the digital SATS for the first time became available for all students in the U.S.
After years in the works, the SAT is going all-digital.
“The biggest difference was the fact the digital SAT is much shorter than the paper SAT. Paper SAT lasted almost four hours, the digital SAT was about two hours,” said Elizabeth Cunningham, a student at Rice Memorial High School in South Burlington, who took the paper exam back in December and recenltly took the digital version. “On the digital SAT, it depends on how you do on that first section to see how hard the questions are on the second section.”
Officials from College Board, which administers the tests, says they made the transition away from paper to benefit students and schools, allowing more time per question and providing greater flexibility on how how the test is given.
“I do think the impact is mostly felt by students, and I think it’s one that is for the most part a positive impact,” said Moses Murphy, the University of Vermont’s director of admissions. He says UVM remains a test optional school, meaning the SATS aren’t required when applying. Murphy says about 60% of applicants do not report their scores and that the digital test should provide more access to students. “A sign of the times. I think students are more comfortable interfacing with online tests as they do with other aspects of their life.”
Evey Slavik, a student at Rice, says she took a test preparation course but that the traditional practice book wasn’t as helpful. “I didn’t feel like my book — the one I had been studying with for the paper SAT — didn’t really prepare me for the questions on the digital SAT,” she said.
Students at Rice there are pros and cons to the digital SATs but they are concerned when it comes to super scoring, where students submit their highest test scores if they took the test multiple times. “I think it raises a lot of confusion and lot of questions around super scoring, and just in general, how colleges are going to view the paper SAT score vs. the digital SAT score,” Cunningham said.
Every college handles SAT scores differently and officials recommend checking with each to ensure they accept super scoring across digital and paper tests.
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