Digital SAT will be shorter, easier to administer and take

[Shawn Knight]

In a nutshell: College Board, the organization responsible for the SAT standardized test commonly used for college admission decisions, has announced plans to take the assessment digital. The digital SAT will be shorter than the traditional test – about two hours instead of three – and will provide more time to answer each question. Reading passages will also be shorter, and calculators will be allowed on the entire math section.

College Board conducted a pilot program in November 2021 in the US and overseas. Four out of five students found the process to be less stressful than the standard written test, while 100 percent of educators reported a positive experience.

Tests will be administered in schools or test centers with a proctor present, not remotely. Students will be able to use their own device or a school issued unit. The test will still be scores on a 1600 scale, and scores will be returned in days rather than weeks, we’re told.

Educators will no longer have to deal with packing, sorting and shipping test material. And because it'll be shorter and easier to administer, districts will have more options for when, where and how often they can offer the test.

“The digital SAT will be easier to take, easier to give, and more relevant,” said Priscilla Rodriguez, vice president of College Readiness Assessments at College Board. “We’re not simply putting the current SAT on a digital platform—we’re taking full advantage of what delivering an assessment digitally makes possible.”

College Board will start administering the digital SAT internationally in 2023 before rolling it out in the US in 2024.

Image credit: Kaitlyn Baker

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/93142-digital-sat-shorter-easier-administer-take.html

 

[elementalSG]

Exams prepare kids for the truth about the real world: it is hard and it is stressful. Now even the SAT is being made "to be less stressful". Stop watering down the training kids need for the real world!

 

[MyIOnU]

Why more times for SAT? Should we challenge the kids even more now a day instead making it easier? We should expect they are smarter than older generation.

 

[Toju Mikie]

I took a Pearson VUE last year and I definitely prefer it over any paper version. One thing I wonder here is why aren't College Board able to provide instant results due to the exam being digital. When I took my Pearson VUE test, I got my results right after taking the test.

edit: forgot there was a writing portion on the SAT so it will take time to grade the test in that case

 

[QuantumPhysics]

When I was a kid, the SAT had a top score of 1600. Supposedly you get like 400 points for "writing your name" and then the remainder of points is divided between Math and English skill.

I was born in 81".

By the time I graduated High School in 99, I believe that "some people" got tired of watching foreign students (who literally memorized the test) end up graduating Salutatorian and Valedictorian - so they made the SAT more difficult. They made a writing portion which would favor more towards native speakers.

the foreign students figured out how to beat that so the IVY leages just decided to "not let them in". Now there are several dozen lawsuits against them...

Eventually the SAT stratification/ discrimination system will completely be evaporated in order to let the schools decide, arbitrarily, who they want and who they don't.

 

[p51d007]

Gotta dumb it down so MORE people can enroll in college, take out HUGE debts, get a degree in underwater basketweaving and then can't find a job, demand taxpayers pay off their debts!

 

[yRaz]

Changing the SATs, when standards are no longer standards. I scored slightly above average but my father had a perfect score on the math section of his SATs and, to my knowledge, is still the only person from his high-school to have done that. This really takes away from the accomplishments of people who scored high.

Why couldn't they administor the old tests digitally? Growing up, my dad discouraged me using a calculator and I'm very good at mental math because of it. As long as both numbers are 3 digits or less I can add, subtract, multiply and divide in my head faster than it takes someone to pull their phone out of their pocket.

 

[Avro Arrow]

"More convenient, or dumbing it down?"

Yes.

 

[wiyosaya]

When I took it, 1978 or so, it was simple enough anyway. All you needed was a "Study Guide" that had questions from previous SAT tests,and a good memory since many of the questions were recycled. Hopefully, they made it somewhat more difficult than memorizing questions from previous years.

However, I am sure they will do something like using A.I. to determine which questions to recycle and, of course, for the 30-second news spot using A.I. will get them.

 

[brucek]

It will certainly be a lot easier to take as soon as the first cheat app that automatically answers each question correctly is published. Could work either fully automated via wisdom-of-crowd or if there's money involved maybe there's even an editorial staff.

If this was a PC app or website I'd expect that to be near immediately. Not sure if it's harder to do for say iOS and Android.

 

[brucek]

When I was a kid, the SAT had a top score of 1600. Supposedly you get like 400 points for "writing your name"

I think the way it worked was:
- You get a score between 200 and 800 on each of the two sections
- That score indicates where you are on the bellcurve. 500 is the median. Each 100 points represents a standard deviation. So if you scored 800, you were 3 standard deviations above the median.

Not sure if it's still done this way today, I think it's been through several changes

 

[BuckarooBonzaii]

We should be challenging our kids to find their potential so they can excel.

 

[Dimitrios]

Why more times for SAT? Should we challenge the kids even more now a day instead making it easier? We should expect they are smarter than older generation.

I won't explain it here but we all know the true reason. Schools in my state are pushing this diversity garbage and equal rights and also an award for everybody and all humans are the same race/sex is so "1950's". They are pushing this towards fire/rescue but pushing it too full throttle with firemen. I just don't want to get banned here. Anyone curious I'm a volunteer firefighter. It was only a matter time and more to come so enjoy the ride folks.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

Exams prepare kids for the truth about the real world: it is hard and it is stressful. Now even the SAT is being made "to be less stressful". Stop watering down the training kids need for the real world!

College has been a glorified high school babysitting service for decades now. Challenging kids is "harmful" to them or "anti equity" or something equally ridiculous, depending on who you ask. When I see kids learning something challenging and enjoying it, it only reminds me of how utterly divorces the upper echelons of education are from reality.

I took a Pearson VUE last year and I definitely prefer it over any paper version. One thing I wonder here is why aren't College Board able to provide instant results due to the exam being digital. When I took my Pearson VUE test, I got my results right after taking the test.

edit: forgot there was a writing portion on the SAT so it will take time to grade the test in that case

Because there are 78 different layers of administrative bureaucracy full of people with underwater gender weaving degrees who have to justify their $60k+ paychecks, and they intentionally silo every responsibility to obfuscate how little work they actually do

Source: work in education

Gotta dumb it down so MORE people can enroll in college, take out HUGE debts, get a degree in underwater basketweaving and then can't find a job, demand taxpayers pay off their debts!

Follow the money baby! Colleges have seen declining enrollment for the last 3 years, the harder they push identity politics the more people stop going. They are desperate to get more people into college to keep their numbers up, easiest way to do that is make it easier to get people who cant pass the test (and are more likely to take on huge debt without understanding it).

 

[Dimitrios]

We should be challenging our kids to find their potential so they can excel.

But kids feelings will get hurt.

Why is Timmy better than Jimmy?

 

[MyIOnU]

But kids feelings will get hurt.

Why is Timmy better than Jimmy?

LOL yep. Back in the day, tough it up and deal with it. Now, are your feeling hurt !!!

 

[wiyosaya]

Because there are 78 different layers of administrative bureaucracy full of people with underwater gender weaving degrees who have to justify their $60k+ paychecks, and they intentionally silo every responsibility to obfuscate how little work they actually do

Source: work in education

As I see it, it its this way at least at one top 20 university I have experienced first-hand:

They grade on a curve so that if the average score on an exam in a class is 50 of 100, getting a 50 on the exam, then is a grade of "C". Exactly how the other E - A pan out, I am not sure. I did not stay at that school long enough.

However, what I figure is that tuition is so expensive at the school and it attracts quite a few students that have influential parents, those parents would be all over the school if their kids were failing - so the school grades on a curve just to pass more students and avoid the btching parents. It entirely depends on the class. I am lead to believe that if the class average were 10 out of 100 on an exam, getting that 10 of 100 right on an exam would also be a grade of "C". And this is a top 20 university in the US. To me, a degree from there means little except that the parents bought it for their kids. Figure that any university known to grade on a curve gives out degrees that mean little, if anything.

 

[Avro Arrow]

"Tests will be administered in schools or test centers with a proctor present"

 

[Josh10]

Standardized tests are a joke anyway. It's all about the $$$. Just because it's shorter and digital does not make it easier. It's about time they did so seeing we are in the 21st Century. Get the results sooner rather than waiting a couple to a few weeks. These tests now are all about who can prep better. It does not mean you are better prepared for college readiness no more than the next. My son takes Dual Enrollment courses and touts a 3.7 GPA. If he scored a 20 or 21 on the SAT or and 1100 on the SAT, yet touts a 3.7 GPA in college courses alone, does that mean he is less ready for college than the person who scored a 28 or 30 on the ACT or 1400 on the SAT? NO. He proved college readiness by taking college courses in HS not because of some standardized test. It's all about $$$ and that is it. Many take prep courses that cost money to take the tests because it's about the $$$. When colleges award scholarships primarily on test scores and not on looking at the student as a whole, like they claim they do, you know it's about the $$$. Pay attention. Schools will be able to allow more tests throughout the year, which means more $$$$. It's a joke.