In November of 2022, I had the opportunity to pilot the digital SAT, which is now how the SAT will be run. Antioch Community High School juniors will be taking the new digital SAT this year, so I decided to share my experience with the digital SAT to hopefully make the new test less stressful for participants.
The test is shorter than the traditional SAT which made the test feel less stressful. There is also a timer on the screen which helped me pace myself so I did not feel the need to rush nor did I have to worry about going too slow and not finishing on time.
The testing application also offered a graphing calculator; which means test takers did not need to remember their own calculator. Additional tools the test provides for students include an answer eliminator where students can eliminate incorrect answers, a highlighter tool to highlight important information in text and annotation tools. Another interesting feature was the ability to change the contrast and zoom in on the questions which made the whole test experience comfortable.
I also found that I could kind of tell when I got a question wrong because the questions would get harder when I got a question right or easier if I got a question wrong. The whole experience kind of reminded me of the Northwest Evaluation Assessments (NWEA) testing in middle and elementary school.
Perhaps the best thing about the digital SAT is the time it takes to receive your score. The paper SAT scores took months to come out and that meant months of waiting and stressing over what my score could be. With the digital SAT, I was able to get my score within hours of completing the test which meant I did not have to stress over not knowing my score.
Overall, the new digital SAT was a great improvement from the traditional SAT since it is shorter, has more tools for you to use and you get your score quicker. The biggest thing to remember is to charge your Chromebook and bring a charger just in case your battery gets low on the test day. Good luck to everyone who is taking the digital SAT this spring.
