SAT to go digital, be shortened

A big change is coming in the steps needed to get into college: the SAT will be transitioned to a digital platform.

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The College Board, the nonprofit group that administers the SAT and PSAT, is making changes to the standardized tests as more colleges make them optional, The Associated Press reported.

Test takers will now be taking the exam on their own laptop or tablet, but they still will not be able to participate at home, The Washington Post reported. They will still have to report to a monitored testing site or a school.

The test will also be shortened by an hour to two hours, instead of the current three-hour exam, the AP reported.

It is also going to be more relevant, the College Board said in the announcement.

Tests like the SAT and its competitor the ACT are not as important as they once were, with schools now looking at a student’s achievements and activities through their high school careers, the AP reported.

Harvard University has made the SATs optional through 2026, The Washington Post reported. The University of California does not use the SAT or ACT when selecting new students.

The tests have also come under criticism as some say they skew in favor of wealthy, white applicants and against minority and low-income students, the AP reported.

The changes will go into effect next year in most countries around the world, but won’t be implemented in the U.S. until 2024.

About 1.5 million students who were part of the class of 2021 took the SAT one time. In the year before, 2.2 million students took the tests.

Some still take it to qualify for scholarships and to give themselves the choice of whether or not to submit the scores.

This is the third time the SATs have been changed in the past 20 years, The Washington Post reported.

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