Covid-19 impacted people in a variety of ways, both positively and negatively.  One of the ways Covid-19 impacted students and colleges was that those who were applying to colleges didn’t have to submit their SAT scores for the year of Covid.  As a result, administrators, colleges, and students began to realize that the SAT wasn’t as valuable as it seemed, which is why after a lot of consideration, the College Board decided to alter the SAT.  As of 2023, according to U.S. News, students who take the SAT internationally will be the first to experience the format change and then a year later, in 2024, the United States will be introduced to the new SAT.  

The new SAT will be taken digitally, will be shortened, and will allow the use of graphing calculators on the math portion of the exam.  The pro of the new SAT is that the level of the questions will vary based on how well or poorly the student is doing to make the questions more level appropriate.  Students are also allowed to use their own devices while they take this exam.  However, just like before, there will be proctors watching these students to ensure that no one is cheating.  Furthermore, the College Board is in favor of the digital exam because all of the students’ work will be saved in case of an issue such as losing power.

Prior to the change, the SAT was three hours long, however, with the upcoming change, the new digital SAT will only be two hours long with more straight forward questions which makes it easier for students to comprehend.  Also, within the SAT, there used to be one part of the math section taken with a calculator and the other part taken without a calculator.  However, with the new SAT, the whole math section is allowed to be done using a graphing calculator.

According to Statcrunch, the SAT is one of the most stressful tests which is why students are so eager to find how they did in case they need to retake the test or so they can finally stop worrying.  Therefore, instead of waiting around two weeks to receive your score, the new SAT will come back in days which is great so that those who took the exam can figure what they need to do next and plan accordingly.  Building off the fact that the SAT is an extremely stressful exam, an advantage of the new SAT is that after the pilot launch, approximately 80% of those that took the altered SAT said they thought that it was less stressful than the SAT now, according to the College Board.  This will help students perform better since the exam won’t make them as anxious or nervous.

Overall, all the changes being made to the SAT will significantly help students perform better as it will be “easier”, shorter, and won’t cause as much stress for students.  Personally, I am very interested to see the difference in how people do on the new SAT compared to the “old” exam and if the new SAT is going to make a difference score wise.