On March 9, 2024, College Board completed its transition from the Paper SAT to the Digital SAT. This new, revised version is supposed to be a less stressful and overall, better experience than the old paper version. As someone who’s taken both versions of the SAT, here’s the deal with the Digital SAT.
Pros:
- The test is now much shorter in length than the paper version. The Paper SAT consisted of 3 separate categories (Reading, Writing, and Math) while the Digital SAT combines reading and writing into one section, now consisting of only 2 categories (Reading and Math). The paper version also consisted of around 154 questions while the digital version now consists of around 98, thus the time taken to complete the SAT was shortened from 3 hours to just over 2.
- You get more time per question compared to the paper version. On the paper test, on average, you would get about 1 minute and 16 seconds per question however, on the digital test, the average time per question jumps to around 1 minute and 37 seconds which may not seem like much on paper but I can ensure that it is. However, I don’t believe that it necessarily makes the test less stressful, but we’ll get back to that.
- It’s easier to study for as well as easier to begin testing than the paper version. The most efficient way to prepare for the paper SAT was to purchase a book filled with previous tests and practice however, College Board now provides test takers with practice material within their app Bluebook. There, any downloader with a College Board account can take practice tests to get familiar with the interface and types of questions for free. Regarding beginning an actual test, the Paper SAT required a painfully long routine consisting of filling in personal information and codes by filling bubbles with a pencil. For the digital SAT, the test-starting process is much less monotonous, consisting of a few slides of information and entering a code provided by the testing center.
Cons:
- The unprecedented jump in difficulty regarding the transition from the first module to the hard module in both sections. The first module, the one that determines the difficulty of the second module, is quite manageable, personally able to pass them with time to spare. However, the jump in difficulty afterward is very significant, so much so that the greater time per second advantage is no longer present. Also, the Paper SAT consisted of a much more balanced array of questions, varying in difficulty. The Digital SAT, on the other hand, is much less forgiving. Since there are fewer questions, there’s less variation as well as less leniency with wrong answers. Those paired with the high difficulty of those questions are a bad combination. You have to be prepared and that leads me to the next point.
- The lack of effective study methods. Although easier to access study tools, these tools give a false image of what the real Digital SAT will look like. The practice tests on Bluebook are much easier than the questions present on the actual SAT. This difference is most seen in the Math section. I noticed that a much greater majority of the questions on the practice tests can be solved with Desmos, the graphing calculator present within the test itself, compared to the questions on the actual Digital SAT. College Board itself has provided its Bluebook users with insufficient means of preparation thus far, ultimately setting them up for failure.
The Big Takeaway: Currently, I believe that the lack of study methods paired with the difficulty of questions destroys the idea of a less stressful experience. However, that isn’t without saying that the Digital SAT is brand new. Although the experience itself was worse than expected, at least for me, you have to keep in mind that the Paper SAT had so many resources and ways to prepare BECAUSE it was around for so long. With time, the same will happen with the Digital version. More resources will become available, allowing future test-takers to adequately prepare for the difficulty of the questions, therefore, no longer making them as difficult. There’s still plenty of room for growth so regardless of whether you had a pleasant or miserable experience, remember there’s much more to come for the Digital SAT, and has the potential to be better than its predecessor.
