As working as an assistant editor for the second cycle of the JSR program, my article focused on the topic of the new trend in Digital SAT.
Hajoon Song
Claudia Shin
[30-2]-Final draft
August 4th, 2023
SAT in Digital Mode
The SAT, a standardized test widely used by students in the world for college admissions, has made a significant change this year. Starting in 2023, the College Board introduced the new digital SAT in international regions (except regions in the U.S), taking a large step away from the traditional paper-based format.
The decision to make the SAT digital was driven by a desire to enhance the testing experience for students and provide more accurate results for colleges and universities. According to Priscilla Rodriguez, Vice President of College Readiness Assessments at College Board, the digital SAT is “easier to take, easier to give, and more time efficient.” The College Board aimed to increase the advantages of digital delivery to improve the assessment process by shortening the length of texts and time.
One of the key benefits of the digital SAT is adaptive testing. Adaptive testing is a testing method widely used in digital tests format to precisely determine a student’s performance. That way, the list of questions that students have to answer depends on whether they answered the previous questions correctly or not. For example, if one student answered all of the questions in test 1 correctly, they will receive more difficult questions to answer. The College Board therefore can test students’ real abilities to answer questions.
Another benefit of the digital SAT is a lowered risk of cheating. In the past, many students have been reported after being caught cheating while taking the SAT. As the SAT is modified, the order of questions will be different for each student, which will successfully reduce the risk of cheating. Additionally, as stated above, each section of Language and Math will be separated into two modules and adaptive testing will be implemented. This will ensure that the questions differ completely unless students receive the same score for the first module.
The digital SAT has brought several advantages, such as being adaptive and more secure from cheating. However, there have also been some detrimental effects. As the new digital SAT format was modified abruptly, international students will have to suddenly encounter a new array of questions that they never studied. Still, in the U.S, students can still take paper-based SATs because digital SAT in America starts in 2024. That way, international students who were used to taking old paper-based tests often fly to the U.S. to receive a better score.
The transition to a digital format for the SAT in international regions has some benefits and detriments to international students. From the perspective of the College Board, the new Digital SAT format has lowered the risk of cheating and intensified the ability to correctly determine students’ scores. Less than 5 months are left until final paper SAT tests are held in the U.S; SAT is now getting ready for a complete digital transformation.
Hajoon Song, Grade 9, International School of Beijing
The old paper-based SAT has been changed to digital SAT, making students study different types of questions.
[Source: Hajoon Song, Author]
The new digital SAT consists of adaptive testing and has become shorter.
[Source: Hajoon Song, Author]