This Tuesday, 25 January 2022, the College board made the announcement that SAT will be turning into a digital form thus the students can take their exam on their computers. The change will take place internationally in spring 2023 and in the US a year later.
College board also announced that
- the test will be shortened from three hours down to two. This means that reading passages will be shorter and students will have more time to answer each question
- the scores will be sent to students within days and not within weeks as was the case so far.
- the computers and the students will be –of course- monitored so that any cheating will be avoided
- the test will be taken in test centers or appointed schools in each country.
The new digital era for SAT comes as no surprise as more and more students complained about the stressfulness of the test format when it was in written form, especially about the reading component and the time limit that imposed great hardships for those whose English is not their mother tongue and those who could not afford extra tutoring-practice for the test. The result was for less and less students to register for the SAT and more and more college to go SAT-optional (though we at CLC have addressed the “optional” and its validity in another article). https://clc.gr/en/debugging-the-myth-of-elite-usa-universities/
The College board officials claimed that the change will be made so that the test will be less stressful and more relevant- many students did not have the opportunity to take the SAT due to Covid-19 lockdowns restrictions. Since the SAT will be easier not only in format, but also in time limit and accessibility, students will no longer have any excuses for not practicing more and getting better grades at it. The scores will remain the same with highest being the 800 for both Math and English. It is our belief at CLC that SAT now will continue to play a big role for admissions of international students to USA universities as it will be their opportunity to show their edge in academic excellence, in analytical and critical thinking, and of course in the command of the English Language.
As the season of Early admissions for 2021-2022 applications comes to an end we at CLC continue to advocate that SAT is required –especially for international students- for a competitive profile and admission to Elite USA universities and the results has proved us correct once more, as all our students who have already received acceptances were encouraged to submit their test scores. With the SAT moving into a digital form, we believe that the scores will play an even bigger role in a student’s profile and potential for success in top universities. As always the CLC mentors will be by their students’ side to give them the best chance of succeeding in their top choices for USA universities admission.