On January 21, the College Board made three important announcements:
SAT Subject Tests have been discontinued in the US (and will be discontinued internationally after the June 2021 administration)
The optional SAT Essay will be discontinued after the June 2021 administration
The College Board is working on designing a digitally-delivered test.
The first two announcements, which we discussed in a previous blog post, more immediately affect students. In comparison, the third development won’t affect students for some time, but it is still big news.
In the College Board’s words, “we are investing in a more flexible SAT—a streamlined, digitally delivered test that meets the evolving needs of students… We’re consulting with our members in K–12 and higher education and will have more to share about that work later this spring.”
Even in an increasingly test-optional application environment, the College Board also asserts that “There’s still a clear demand from students to take the SAT as a way to show their strengths to colleges.”
The fact that the College Board is preparing to deliver a digital version of the SAT is not surprising -- if anything, they’re a little behind on this front. Many other standardized tests -- such as the TOEFL, GRE, GMAT, LSAT -- were offered in digital formats before last year, and since the pandemic hit, some have even begun to offer at-home digital testing.
The SAT’s direct competitor, the ACT, already ventured into the realm of computer-based testing. Since September 2018, all international administrations of the ACT have been computer-based.
The pandemic, no doubt, played a role in accelerating the College Board’s plans to go digital. Both the College Board and ACT announced last spring that they planned to make the SAT and ACT available online for students to take at home, and later in the summer, both organizations walked those plans back.
At the moment, the College Board’s plans include a digital SAT that will be administered in test centers, NOT a digital test that students will take in their homes. Still, as many of our international students from 2018-2019 can testify, the transition to a digital test, even in the controlled environment of a test center, can be a rocky one. In order to avoid the types of problems those ACT students faced,, the College Board’s transition to a digital SAT will likely be a slow one.
No timeline has been announced for the shift to a digital SAT, although we can expect more news later this spring. If this shift does end up impacting you, do not worry. We’re prepared, and well-equipped, to help you navigate this transition. At LogicPrep, we have always been tech-focused, and because of our international experience, we know how to support students through a digital-test roll out.
In fact, when ACT switched to computer-based testing internationally in 2018, we developed our own digital version of the test that closely mimics the experience of the official computer-based exam. For the past two and a half years, LogicPrep students have taken advantage of our digital testing interface in order to prepare for the ACT, and once the College Board releases more information about the digital SAT, our students preparing for the SAT will be able to do the same.
Reach out today to talk to one of our Academic Advisors and determine the best options for you.