Pencils down: SATs are going all digital, and students have mixed reviews of the new format

As SAT season kicked off, students across the U.S. for the first time took it with computers and tablets—and not the pencils they’ve used since the college admissions test was introduced nearly a century ago.

It’s not unfamiliar territory for today’s digital natives, but some are still warming up to the idea.

The digital SAT’s launch comes as its administrator, the College Board, and backers of standardized tests hope to win over schools and critics who are skeptical of its place in college admissions.

Many students see upsides to taking the SAT, even if colleges don’t require their scores.

“A lot of people are going test-optional now but if you do put your scores in, you most likely will have an advantage,” said Rachel Morrow, a junior at Holy Family Cristo Rey Catholic High School in Birmingham.

The SAT also can unlock scholarships, but scoring well enough to qualify often requires intense test prep, which many low-income Americans don’t have access to.

The digital test is an hour shorter but set up and scored the same way, with two sections—one math, the other reading and writing—worth up to 800 points each. It adapts to students’ performance, with questions becoming slightly easier or harder as they go. Test-takers can use their own laptops or tablets, but they still have to sit for the test at a monitored testing site or in school, not at home. To prevent cheating, students can’t work in any other program or application while the test is running.

Going digital will not resolve the debate around equity. While critics say the SAT and the alternative ACT are biased toward better-resourced, high-income students, supporters say they remain the best tool for predicting success in college and can be considered in the context of socioeconomic factors like where a student lives.

Ashley Chávez-Cruz, a junior, said there’s also something less nerve-wracking about taking a test digitally.

“With the paper test, especially because you’re in a quiet room with the clock ticking up there silently, it definitely brings in the sense of an exam,” she said. “With the digital SAT, I still knew it was an exam in my mind, but I was less anxious.”

This article was provided by The Associated Press.