After over 100 years of standardized testing, the SAT has drastically changed. Starting on March 9, 2024, the SAT took on a new, online format.
“It was a super different experience,” Pascack Valley junior Agnes Koh said.
This version is shortened from three hours to two. It is also adaptive, as the difficulty level of later sets of questions is based on the correctness of the earlier sets of questions, according to U.S. News.
Koh took the traditional paper version of the SAT this past October and the new, digital version in March. Fellow PV junior Triyana Nilaweera also took both versions this school year. Both students preferred the digital version for a number of reasons, starting with more palatable English readings.
“Personally, I have a really short attention span, so I couldn’t remember everything in the [paper-version] passage, and then I had to answer all the questions,” Koh said. “But, for the digital one, each passage was only one question.”
Additionally, Koh and Nilaweera enjoyed having a graphing calculator available for the entire test, as opposed to having distinct calculator and non-calculator sections. Koh explained that “you could just graph everything, and it was just a lot easier to find [the answers].” However, Nilaweera found that overall, the questions on the digital math section were more difficult.
Despite the numerous changes, Nilaweera’s score was unaffected. She got the same score on both the paper and digital SAT test.
Koh explained that the new testing materials, a computer versus a paper and pencil, was a downgrade for her.
“Honestly, I do like the paper and pencil aspect better,” Koh said. “Also, the computer it’s gonna be harder to operate and something could go wrong with the WiFi.”
Furthermore, Koh finds the adaptable element of the test “weird.” She did not appreciate how the difficulty of the questions were based on her performance on the previous modules.
“Everyone should take the same test,” Koh said.
Nilaweera shared the same resigned feelings about the lack of uniformity of this standardized test.
“I didn’t love it [the adaptability] just because I feel like it’s a standardized test; it should be standardized, but it is what it is,” Nilaweera said.
