A quick comparison of the new Digital SAT rolling out globally in 2024 and the current paper and pencil (and online version) SAT
by Dr. Yo, in consultation with Alisha Cipriano, M.A.
GREAT NEWS! After studying the CollegeBoard’s new book, The Official Digital SAT Study Guide, I believe that for MOST students the new Digital SAT rolling out globally next spring (March, 2024) as compared with the current version being offered through the fall of 2023, will be… wait for it… EASIER! This is great news for students: what student wouldn’t prefer an easier test to a harder one?
Having said that, note that easier tests don’t always translate to higher scores. Remember that college entrance exams (SAT and ACT) are scored on a curve—meaning your score measure how well you do compared to everyone else taking the same exam—and if the new Digital SAT is easier for you, it’s also easier for everyone else…
Nevertheless, I make the bold claim that the new Digital SAT will be EASIER for most students primarily based on three key changes:
- The exam is significantly shorter. Both sections, Reading/Writing and Math, are shorter, and the exam is 46 minutes shorter overall!
- The Reading/Writing passages are bite-sized (25-150 words!) rather than columns-long (up to 1000 words) and every question is stand-alone (one item per passage, as opposed to sets of questions based on the same text).
- Students can use calculators on EVERY Math question.
Because the Digital SAT is (only) 2 hours 14 minutes long versus 3 full hours, students won’t need the same level of concentration or cognitive stamina just to get through it. Cognitive stamina factors largely into bottom line scores on the current exam, but probably not so much on the adaptive digital version. I know that many CPE students over the years would have scored significantly higher on current iterations of the exam if they had been 46 minutes shorter, since the final stretch, like that of a marathon, is grueling and often accounts for a disproportionate loss of points.
What does ADAPTIVE mean? Good question, glad you asked. The word adaptive refers to the fact that both sections, Reading/Writing and Math, adapt to each examinee based on performance as the exam unfolds. Here’s how that works: Each section has two equal (in terms of number of questions) “modules.” Module 1 serves the same questions to everyone with the same mix of easy, medium, and hard items; then the test adapts to serve in Module 2 targeted easy, medium, and/or hard questions based on performance in Module 1 to make finer distinction in bottomline scores.
Reading and Writing Section
The first two sections of the current SAT—Evidence-Based Reading & Writing and Language & Writing—have been condensed into a single Reading and Writing section. Not only is the entire newly combined section MUCH shorter than the two sections on the current exam, a whopping almost 40% shorter (only 64 minutes down from 100!), but gone are the long, multi-column passages that require much greater concentration and that spread relevant information over greater chunks of text for students to cull out. In their stead are bite-sized passages (~25-150 words), from a single sentence to a short paragraph.
A word about underlining and lack thereof. When the CollegeBoard first announced that its new Digital SAT would go live in March, 2024, and likewise be the ONLY version of the SAT offered thereafter, it struck panic into the hearts of students who rely on underlining in booklets both to maintain concentration and to help identify specific information when asked However, because the passages are so short on the new SAT—again from a single sentence to a short paragraph—these needs for underlining dissipate. Panic is unfounded!
Comparison of CURRENT LONG Reading Passages and NEW DIGITAL BITE-SIZED LENGTH
Math Section
The changes in the new Math section are fewer and less significant than those in Reading and Writing, with two notable exceptions. Students will see the same types of problems over the same range of topics—from number sense through early precalculus—as on the current SAT, and they will have access to the same “cheat sheet” of basic shapes and volumes formulas as on the exam.
However, the number of questions has been reduced from 58 to 44 and the total time from 80 minutes to 70 minutes, again requiring less cognitive stamina. The other big change in Math is, much to the delight of every student with whom I’ve spoken to date, is that whereas the current exam has 20 questions where students may not use calculators, on the Digital SAT calculators are permitted on EVERY ITEM!
Here is summary of the key continuities and changes coming to the SAT in March, 2004.
SUMMARY CHART
Comparison of CURRENT PAPER & PENCIL versus NEW DIGITAL ADAPTIVE SAT
| Same scoring: 200-800 in each of two sections for total of 400-1600 points | TWO Sections instead of FOUR: 1) Reading & Writing 2) Math |
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| Two-stage Adaptive Testing: 54 Reading and Writing questions, 44 Math questions. Students see a mix of easy to hard questions in Module 1 and then a mix of targeted questions in Module 2 based on performance of Module 1 | ||
| SHORTER! 134 min total (vs. 180 min total on the current exam): 64 minutes for Reading & Writing, 70 minutes for Math |
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AND WRITING | Same content: 3 levels of difficulty in Reading and same grammar rules tested | Combined Reading and Writing shorter (64 minutes total down from 100 minutes) |
| Same 4 subject areas for passages: literature, history/social studies, humanities, science | Adaptive (see Structure above and comments in post) | |
| Some types of informational graphics | Much shorter passages (only 25-100 words each) | |
| All questions are standalone, i.e., no sets of questions about same passage | ||
| Can’t underline on screens but much less need to because of much shorter passages | ||
| Same content: Arithmetic, Algebra 1 & 2, Geometry, some Precalc | Shorter overall (70 minters total, down from 80 minutes) | |
| Same cheat cheat (basic shapes and volume formulas) | Calculators allowed on EVERY question | |
| Same mix of multiple choice (~3/4) and grid-in items (~1/4) in both Math modules | ||
| Same content from Number Sense through early Precalc For detailed topics/notes, email or text Dr. Yo at 413-329-7540 for free access to CPE’s copyrighted Math Review Packet |