College admissions is a long game with lots of moving parts. If you thought standardized tests were off the table, think again.
Need to Know: the Digital SAT
Coming soon:
Need to Know: The Online ACT
You may have heard about the new Digital SAT and the upcoming Online ACT, and are wondering what that means for you. Let’s go through what you need to know.
Key SAT Takeaways:
The SAT Still Matters:
More colleges and universities are requiring SAT or ACT scores again, but even for test-optional schools, strong scores make a measurable difference in college admissions.
Let’s dive right in to the next generation of standardized tests:
The Digital SAT is 2 hour and 14 minutes long, much shorter than the old paper and pencil version. This is a great benefit to students, especially those who lose focus on really longs tests.
However, the Digital SAT is NOT any easier, just shorter.
The SAT is now entirely digital. No more paper and pencil tests. If you prefer a paper and pencil test, the SAT might not be for you.
The format and content of the Digital SAT are slightly different from the old paper and pencil version, and this means new techniques and new skills are needed to maximize scores. And while practicing with older SAT paper and pencil tests is valuable, these older tests don’t perfectly match the current digital SAT.
The test is administered through the College Board’s Blue Book App, which has practice PSAT and SAT tests. (But don’t waste the practice material! There isn’t enough as it is.)
You can use your own Windows or Mac laptop or tablet to take the digital SAT (but not a personal Chromebook), or use a school-managed computer.
The digital SAT is an adaptive test, meaning that the test changes its level of difficulty for individual students:
- The first Math and Reading & Writing “modules” (½ of the test) are the same for everyone and contain a distribution of easy, medium and hard questions.
- The second Math and Reading & Writing “modules” adjust the level of difficult based on student performance on the first modules.
- If you do well on the first module, you’ll get harder questions on the second module, but also a higher potential score.
Important notes:
- As of this writing, there are only 6 official Digital SAT practice tests available (through the College Board’s Blue Book App, available on most computer and tablet platforms).
- The general consensus is that the first three practice tests are significantly easier than the real tests students are taking, particularly on “hard” math problems. The last three practice tests seem to be good representations of the real tests.
- The SAT has a poor track record: the College Board initially provides practice materials that do not align with the difficulty of the actual tests. It is likely practice materials will improve significantly over the next year.
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