By Lucy Ward

Originally named the Scholastic Aptitude Test, the SAT was created in 1926 as a supplemental factor to college admissions. It gained ground when many Ivy League schools, starting with Harvard, adopted the SAT in the 1930s as a way to see standardized scores from applicants further than the Northeast, where most of their admissions had traditionally come from.

Today, the SAT continues to be an essential part of the typical college admissions process, intending to provide schools with a standardized idea of a student’s readiness for college-level academics. International students also have the opportunity to take the SAT, at a higher cost due to an additional fee from the College Board, when applying to colleges in the US. The College Board is technically a non-profit organization that creates and administers standardized tests for college admissions. 

Photo credit: Pick Pik.

The SAT has been a traditional number 2 pencil and paper test with bubble answer sheets for decades. Recently, the digitalization of the SAT created a very new format for the test. The first digital SAT was administered internationally in March 2023. The first digital SAT in the US was administered a year later, on March 9, 2024. According to the College Board, this transition was made digital because the adaptive form of the test allows more security for the test itself. Additionally, with the digitalization of the SAT, this test is more adapted to current styles of learning and test-taking. It is shorter and covers a more diverse range of topics. 

The format of the SAT has changed many times, but the most recent version of the paper SAT, created in 2016, consisted of one Reading section, one Writing and Language section, one No Calculator Math section, and one Calculator Math section. This version had 154 questions and took 180 minutes. The Reading section was 65 minutes long, with 52 questions that consisted of conceptual questions paired with passages. The Writing and Language section was 35 minutes long, with 44 questions that consisted of passages paired with questions about grammar, rhetoric, and the standards of English. The No Calculator Math section was 25 minutes long with 20 questions, 15 of which were multiple-choice, and five of which required a student-produced response. The Calculator Math section was 55 minutes with 38 questions, 30 of which were multiple-choice, and eight of which required student-produced responses. 

Additionally, up until 2021, an optional supplemental essay would appear on the SAT after the four previous sections. This essay option is no longer available when taking the SAT on the weekend, but is still available during the School Day SAT, according to a College Board Blog. In a press release from January 2021 about the decision to discontinue the SAT Essay, the College Board stated that it “recognizes that there are many other ways for students to demonstrate their mastery of essay writing.” The SAT School Day is a test administered to students on a school day to help “students understand that college is an option and boosts college going – especially for for low-income and underrepresented minority groups,” said Senior Vice President of College Readiness Assessments Priscilla Rodriguez, according to the College Board Newsroom.

The guidelines for the digital SAT, however, are not nearly as specific. The digital SAT is 134 minutes long (46 minutes shorter than the paper version) with 98 questions (56 fewer). There is one Reading and Writing Section and one Math Section, each with two modules. The College Board categorizes the Reading and Writing section into “four content domains:” Information and Ideas, Craft and Structure, Expression of Ideas, and Standard English Conventions. There is no set number of how many questions from each topic domain that are asked, but at least one example of each domain appears on both modules of the Reading and Writing Section. A calculator is available on both Math modules. There are still both student-produced responses and multiple-choice questions; however, there is no set amount of either.

Ava Robinson (‘24) shared her experience with the paper SAT, which she took in August, October, November, and December 2022 and May and June 2023. While taking the SAT six times is uncommon, Robinson took it this many times because she strived to improve her score as much as she could. Robinson had a tutor to help her study for the SAT, as many Collegiate students and high school students across the country do. She explained that the paper SAT had a booklet, similar to old AP Exam booklets, where she would have all of the questions. She would also have a separate sheet where she would fill in bubbles for her answers. Unlike the digital SAT, all sections of the paper SAT were given to students all at once; however, they were not allowed to flip to the next section without completing the time allotted for the previous one. “It was nice to be able to see everything at once.” said Robinson. However, “It was a little annoying, because the desks are really tiny, especially at the places that I went to take them. It was hard to have all of your papers on your desk and your pencils and your calculator.” Additionally, with the paper SAT, test takers sometimes had difficulty with the multiple-choice bubble answers: “There was the stress about not coloring in the circle well enough or having to erase and chose a different answer.”

Carly Barnes (‘25) is in the uncommon position of having taken both the digital and paper SAT. She recounted the paper SAT, which she took in December 2023, as being “so long.” “I like the digital more,” said Barnes, “I felt like I was able focus more.” The difference between these two tests was evident for her, as her scores improved from the paper version to the digital one, which she took in May and June 2024. Not only did the length of the test change, but the style of the test changed. Barnes noted that the questions were slightly different between the two tests: “The reading passages in the digital SAT are so much shorter, and the questions are easier to understand and follow.” It is, in fact, true that the passages on the paper SAT were between 600 to 750 words for the Reading Section and 350 to 450 words on the Writing and Language Section, while the reading passages on the digital SAT range from only 25 words to 150 words, according to Academic Approach. The College Board decided to shorten these passages to allow test takers to have more time per question and less time reading the passages.

Elise Robinson (‘26) stated that, “From what I heard about taking the SAT on paper, us taking the digital SAT is a huge benefit, because I heard it shortens the test, and also, I find that the digital has so many different tools that you can use. Also, I really like crossing out the answers that I think are wrong.” The tools that Robinson referred to are the Desmos Calculator for the Math section, a Highlight and Notes option for the Reading and Writing section, and the ability to cross off wrong answers on the screen. Regarding the Highlight and Notes tool, Clara Totten (‘26) added that, “I really appreciate that College Board added those to normal AP [exams], as well as not only the SAT.”

The change from paper to digital has not been the only recent change for the SAT, however. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, many colleges and universities nationwide have changed their policies regarding standardized testing. Some have opted to have test-optional admissions. This means that applicants are not required to submit their test scores to the specific school they are applying to. If an applicant wants to, they are still able to submit test scores. This policy began due to people not being able to take these tests during the pandemic. Big Future, a college board website that helps high school students plan for their future, further explains that this is not the only testing policy colleges have adopted, as some schools have gone test-blind, while others have changed their policies a few different times over the last few application cycles. It is a highly debated topic, as evident by articles from Insider Higher Ed, Top Tier Admissions, and others.

The College of William and Mary. Photo credit: @william_and_mary via Instagram.

The test-optional option is beneficial to some students, such as Amelia Lansing (‘26), who explained, “For me, I am not as good of a test taker, and my score on the SAT is not a good reflection of me as a student.” The test-optional policy that some schools, including William & Mary and Virginia Commonwealth University, have incorporated is perfect for a student who feels the same way. This opinion is not shared by all students, though. “I think it skews the data, because people only submit their test scores if they’re super high, which makes the average or middle range so much higher than it actually would be if everyone submitted their scores,” said Totten.

Despite the opinions on the test-optional policy, students appreciate the SAT for providing a standard that other college admission factors, such as GPA, do not. Clara Gould (‘26) said, “When grades and GPAs between different schools vary so much, I think it is good to have a baseline.” Totten agreed with this sentiment: “Grades from schools vary so much based on what school they go to, so I appreciate that it is standardized.”

Maybe people argue that the SAT is not an adequate assessment of students’ preparedness for college, but rather a test of privilege. An article from The Harvard Gazette brings up the debate about students from higher-income families having higher SAT scores. Even the College Board SAT Suite of Assessments Annual Report from 2024 shows that students from higher-income families have higher average test scores than students from lower-income families. I took the digital SAT, and I had a tutor who helped me study for my tests in August 2024, November 2024, and March 2025. The income differences not only show up in the ability to have tutors, but also in the number of tests that students might be able to afford to take, considering each SAT costs $68.

It is difficult to say whether the paper or digital SAT has proved to be more beneficial for either students or colleges. The ever-changing world of college admissions makes it increasingly difficult to tell whether the digital SAT has improved the process. This brings up questions: Should more schools be test-optional? Is the SAT truly the best way to determine whether a student is adequately prepared for college admissions? If not, what other ways can a standardized expression of achievements be shown, especially with the lack of standardization in GPA?