Do you remember what you got on the SAT?
I don’t.
It wouldn’t matter anyway. Back when I took them in [year redacted], the top score was 1600. Now it’s scored out of 2400. More schools have distanced themselves from SAT testing in the application process to make it a fairer one to students who can’t access expensive test prep and tutoring, and the ACT has become a viable alternative to the SAT, and schools have even backed away from that in the last 3 years because of covid. Everything is very different from when I applied to college; Gen Z is cruel (though accurate) to call this time “the 1900s.”
If all of those changes don’t make you feel old, consider that the College Board recently announced that the SAT is going digital by 2024, putting an end to the tedium of coloring circles with No. 2 pencils, “making sure your answers are heavy and dark.” The test will be done entirely on the computer, with the total test time cut from 3 hours to 2. Students will also be allowed to use calculators for the entire math section. (I cannot tell you how big this would’ve been for me when I was a senior—math and I are sworn enemies.)
Thinking back to my senior year of high school, I remember how much the SAT dominated hallway chatter between students. There were whispers about noteworthy scores (good and bad) and college acceptance letters couldn't come fast enough. There were practice books on backpacks and cafeteria tables. The digital SAT is just one more thing that signals that I’m from the dinosaur age, a living fossil from a simpler (analog) time.
Even though schools have started to move away from the SAT to level the playing field, converting the test to specialized computers is a sure way to expand the digital divide. Since the pandemic, so many students were reported to have suffered learning loss due to the challenges of remote learning; reliable access to high-speed internet has been one of the main barriers that have left poor and working-class students behind. Converting the SATs to a digital-only experience can only compound the already-lopsided arena of test prep. Current reports say that kids of wealthy families have an advantage as college admissions resume and students return to campuses.
I’m also interested to see how digitizing the SAT impacts students’ data footprints, and which advertisers or other third parties might have access to student data. Data is a valuable commodity in any digital space, enabling corporations to track (and influence) people through an intricate web of consumer choices. For most of us, that didn’t happen until we were adults because the technology hadn’t yet evolved, but young people have digital footprints that start early in their lives. When I first heard the announcement, I also wondered how student data was going to be protected from hackers or anyone else who might know enough to be dangerous (or strategic). But mostly I was glad to be grown so I’d never have to worry about that test again—a wonderful upside to being born last century.
