On Jan. 25, the College Board released a statement announcing that the SAT will be going digital. It will also be shortened and personalized beginning next year.

According to the College Board, “The digital test will feature shorter reading passages with one question tied to each, and passages will reflect a wider range of topics that represent the works students read in college. Calculators will be allowed on the entire Math section. Students and educators will get scores back in days, instead of weeks.” 

Along with its shorter passages, the duration of the new test will reduce the time students spend in their seats from the traditional three hours, to two instead.

“Students will be able to use their own device (laptop or tablet) or a school issued device. If students don’t have a device to use, the College Board will provide one for use on test day,” the College Board released in a statement.

If a computer malfunctions, the College Board guarantees that students won’t lose any of their work or time and will be able to pick up right where they left off. 

Another change for the SAT next year is the personalization of each test to each individual student which is expected to “increase security” because “test takers can’t crib an answer from someone else,” writes Teresa Wanatabe from the Los Angeles Times. 

Schools are also being given more freedom when it comes to picking test locations and times to proctor their students.

“The digital format will allow schools to decide when to give the exam,” wrote Wantanabe. “Because each test is unique, the SAT no longer has to be given to all students at the same time to prevent the sharing of information.”

Aside from preventing cheating, the College Board also hopes that the new test’s unique compatibility with its students will “widen access to an exam,” Watanabe wrote.

Watanabe goes on to explain how, “critics of college admissions testing at UC and Cal State have said standardized tests don’t predict college academic performance as well as high school grades do and produce biased results based on race, income, and parents’ education level.”

College and Career Center advisor, Nazzie Moeinazad, at Oak Park High School gives her opinion on the shortening of the SAT.

“Making it shorter would be easier for the students because of not having to memorize strategies and the fact that resources are not available in a lot of other schools – we are lucky.”

Moeinazad emphasizes how kids at other schools may not be as fortunate to have the tools and resources students at OPHS have access to. Making the test unique to each person could mean a more equal chance for success.

“I think personalizing the test will give everyone an equal opportunity or chance to get in,” said Sabrina Ornelas, the College and Career Center clerk at OPHS. “I think that every student has their own struggle. Everyone has their own obstacle that they have to overcome. That’s how everyone is unique and becomes who they are.”

Ornelas discussed how she believes stereotyping plays a big role in who is able to take the SAT. Kids of lower economic classes may not be as fortunate to have resources similarly to the ones students can receive for free at OPHS.

According to Wanatanbe, “overall, 80% of US and international students who took the pilot test in November said it was less stressful, said the College Board, which conducted the survey.”

The new test will be released for U.S. students in 2024 and even sooner for international students in the spring of 2023.

“In the class of 2020, nearly 1.7 million U.S. students had SAT scores that confirmed or exceeded their high school GPA. That means that their SAT scores were a point of strength on their college applications,” writes the College Board.

Although there is a strong debate in favor of the SAT’s permanent removal, the College Board wants to ensure that students who still wish to take the test are still granted access to its possible benefits.

According to the College Board, “While the transition to digital will bring a number of student –and educator-friendly changes, many important features of the SAT Suite (SAT, PSAT/NMSQT®, PSAT™ 10, PSAT™ 8/9) will stay the same.”