The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of the New SAT (Part 1 of 3: The Good)

On January 25, 2022, the College Board announced significant changes to the format and length of the SAT.  The international exam changes in 2023; the U.S. exam, the following year.  Like the widespread adoption of test-optional admissions policies that likely prompted this move, these changes will likely have some “good,” some “bad,” and a few “ugly” effects.  As an SAT tutor who’s seen the exam evolve several times since I started as a test prep coach, here are my best guesses about what’s in store.  

SAT tutor welcomes reduction in test length

The new exam will last just two hours, down from its current three.  As an online SAT tutor, I teach teens how to combat fatigue, a major hurdle for most students, as seriously as I teach them to factor quadratic equations and distinguish when to use a semicolon versus a comma.  While a two-hour exam will still require stamina, the one-third reduction in the SAT’s length will be welcomed by most students.

Image by @ikukevk on Unsplash

Students welcome new SAT digital format

Digital natives, Gen Z and Gen Alpha students will likely cheer the fully digital format of the new exam.  The College Board also describes this change as “student-friendly.” Students will also love being able to use a calculator on both math sections.  So, for now, I’ll place both changes under “the good.”  If you read “the bad” and “the ugly” posts in this three-part series, however, you’ll also see some negative consequences of eradicating the paper version of the SAT.  

More schools may administer new SAT during school day

A digital SAT won’t require shipping and storing reams of paper exams.  So, schools will likely be able to administer the test more often.  (Currently, schools do administer the paper exam, but so do test centers.)  Since there’s less hassle, more high schools may even administer the exam during the school day.  Students generally favor this, too.

Image by @museumsvictoria on Unsplash

SAT tutor applauds content retention

Lastly, as an online SAT tutor, I appreciate the fact that SAT content itself won’t be changing.  Parents of a certain age may recall entire analogy and sentence completion sections.  Young Millennials may remember sentence completions inside the Reading Comprehension section.  Students taking the SAT just after the College Board jettisoned those formats scrambled, wondering what content might replace them.  Not this time.  The content of the test itself will remain the same.

To read about some less positive impacts (the “bad”) of the coming changes, click here.

To read about some devastating impacts (the “ugly”), click here.