On April 4, students at CVHS began receiving their scores for the first in-school administered digital SAT. The in-school digital SAT was significant because it marked the permanent transition from paper SAT to digital SAT within the United States. This change came as a result of a 2021 pilot project that found students were 80% less stressed from taking the SAT in a digital format. However, the digital SAT came with some additional changes, as it has fewer questions, and utilizes an adaptive design to fit the test takers’ skills.
“I think it’s a lot harder to focus on the digital SAT when compared to paper one. The format is a lot more penalizing on making small mistakes because it has fewer questions,” Junior Alex Du said.
Du opted out of taking the school-wide digital SAT after receiving a high score on the paper SAT in December, as he believes his paper SAT practice would not transfer well to the digital format.
“I think most people have taken standardized tests on paper for most of their lives, so switching to a digital format is difficult for some people,” Du said.
Du is one of the few people who had opted out of taking the digital SAT. Although many juniors took the SAT, many canceled their scores upon taking the test as they were not confident in their performance.
“I don’t think the College Board should only have the digital SAT as an option. I think they should let students take either the digital SAT or paper SAT…whatever they are more comfortable with.” Du said.
In a survey conducted amongst CVHS juniors who took the paper and digital SAT, 56% preferred the paper SAT over the digital SAT.
“Going into the digital SAT, I already had a score I was satisfied with… I decided to take it because the school was hosting it, but canceled it soon after,” Junior Lamson Tran said.
Tran’s decision to cancel his score was one shared amongst many. 57% of juniors had canceled (or considered canceling) their digital SAT score. Although their reasons may have varied, it was clear that many students were not confident with their results from the digital SAT.
“I will be taking the SAT again. I thought that the digital SAT was easier than the paper SAT for the most part, but the curve seemed a lot different,” Junior Sebastian Kuo said.
This was a stance many students agreed with 44% of CVHS juniors who took the paper SAT and digital SAT agreeing that the digital SAT was easier than the paper version.
After the Covid pandemic, an increasing number of colleges and universities began making tests optional for their applications. Meaning tests like the SAT have not had as large of an impact on students’ applications in recent years. However, starting this year (2024), schools like Dartmouth, Yale and Brown are again requiring students to submit their standardized test scores. Placing an even bigger emphasis on the SAT, and how students feel taking it.
“I think it’s good that colleges are bringing back the SAT [into their applications]… Especially with the new format, I think improving your scores for the digital SAT is much more accessible with the resources online” Du said.
The importance of the SAT is becoming increasingly emphasized, and students are beginning to worry. With many high school juniors beginning their college applications soon, having an SAT score that matches with the average of their college of interest is important if they want a better chance of getting in. The option for students to go test-optional is important because not all students thrive under the pressure of a standardized test like the SAT.
“If you’re looking for a student who is a good test taker, then the SAT is good. But if you’re looking for how smart a student is, then maybe it is not that good of a measurement.” Kuo said.
