Dakota Ridge begins its annual SAT practice and preparation on Friday, February 23, 2024, but this year is a little different. College Board changed the SAT format from paper to online, and it has many new features that couldn’t be applied to the old paper format.
The biggest change involves the efficiency of the test. Because the test is taken online, students will no longer have to wait months to get their scores, they’ll only have to wait a few weeks.
In addition, many students were overwhelmed by the big paper exam and the long hours. However, with the SAT now being online, it will resemble other quizzes or tests that students have to take throughout the year. This makes some students feel they would be more comfortable while they are taking the test.
“I feel like it’s more intimidating to have this giant piece of paper in front of you with hundreds of bubbles to fill in,” DRHS sophomore Erin Woodworth said. “I think this is going to make it less intimidating.”
The types of questions on the new SAT have also been altered. Now the SAT will feature questions that, after a certain point, adapt based on how the student answers previous questions, similar to MAP testing. There will also no longer be a “no calculator” section in the test. For the entire mathematics portion, students can choose to use their personal calculator or the one provided as a built-in tool on the test.
“I’m kind of jealous of the calculator being with all the sections because the non-calculator section was harder,” DRHS senior Kerala Parikh said.
There are some worries about the idea of an online test, one being that students will be staring at a screen for a long time, but the online format is shorter than the old format.
“On the paper test, students would have long passages to read with multiple questions,” Dakota Ridge instructional coach Kay Newcomer said. “The digital format offers shorter passages with only one question to be addressed.”
The SAT also combined the reading and writing portions, instead of them being separated, to contribute to the time reduction. What once took over three hours will now only take about two hours and 14 minutes.
“It’ll probably be easier because it’s shorter,” Parikh said.
To prepare students for this new format, they will log on and practice with the test tools provided so they know what to expect on testing day.
So why did College Board change the test?
“They have changed the paper-pencil format to online,” Newcomer said, “to accommodate students today.”
Correction note: some information was edited for clarity after original publication.
