SAT to get student-friendly makeover

No need for No. 2 pencils for the SAT, which will transition to an online format. The College Board, which administers the standardized test, announced on Tuesday it will make the digital version of the SAT available to international students next year and U.S. high schoolers in 2024. The exams will still be given at monitored testing sites on either students’ own tablets or ones provided for them. Shortened reading and math sections will bring the total test time down from three hours to two.

Why the shift? Many colleges were considering dropping test scores as an admissions standard even before the pandemic. When COVID-19 shuttered testing centers, it accelerated the process. Nearly 80 percent of bachelor’s degree–granting institutions will not require test scores from students applying for fall 2022, according to a tally by FairTest, a watchdog group that opposes standardized testing. In 2021, about 1.5 million students took the SAT at least once, down from 2.2 million in 2020. The College Board said the shift will make the test more relevant and easier for students who are used to testing online. This is the third time the organization has changed the SAT in 20 years.

Dig deeper: Read Esther Eaton’s report in Schooled about how the pandemic has disrupted standardized testing.