Students taking the SAT in 2024 are experiencing a vastly different test than their predecessors. In addition to a new format, the 2024 SAT reflects a shift in perspective surrounding the test itself.
The test is now fully digital, and the United States offered the new format in March 2024. Previously three hours long, the test is now two hours and fourteen minutes. With shorter reading passages, students are allowed more time per question and can use a graphing calculator for all math sections. The digital format will also allow test scores to be released sooner.
Additionally, the SAT now utilizes what the College Board calls “adaptive testing.” All sections of the test are divided into two modules, and the questions in the second group are determined by a student’s performance in the first group. If a student does well in the first section, the questions in the second module become more difficult.
According to the College Board website, a student will be presented with questions tailored to the student’s abilities. “You won’t be presented with questions that are much too hard or much too easy. You can be confident that you’re going to end up with an accurate score. Your score will reflect your achievement and skills based on your answers to questions in both modules,” it states in a blog post about adaptive testing.
Colleges return to requiring SATs
When the COVID-19 pandemic swept the globe in 2020, many colleges across the country waived the testing requirement as a part of the application process. Concerns were raised about how to administer standardized tests safely during the pandemic. The test-optional policy resulted in applicants inundating a greater range of colleges, including MIT and Cornell University.
Since 2020, it has become apparent to a number of college administrators that standardized tests are an important indicator of a student’s potential in college. An SAT score is possibly more reliable than a student’s high school grade point average (GPA) because of the potential for grade inflation. College administrators noted that SAT scores can correlate to who is likely to do well and who may struggle.
In 2022, major universities began to reinstate the test requirements. MIT was among the first, and other colleges monitored their conclusions.
After MIT’s trial period, several Ivy League colleges restored the testing requirements, including Yale, Dartmouth, and Brown. The University of Pennsylvania, however, has not. At the same time, the University of California system has stated that it does not plan to return to requiring standardized testing.
A brief history of the SATs
The notion of a standardized college application process began in 1900 with the formation of the College Entrance Examination Board. Until this point, individual colleges used their own tests in their admissions process.
Tests, called the “College Boards,” were introduced in the following year and covered Latin, Greek, and physics. This phenomenon snowballed into the first SAT in 1926, invented by Carl Brigham under the authority of the College Board. Initially, the SAT was used exclusively for specific purposes, such as a scholarship for Harvard University. By the end of the 1930s, all Ivy League schools used the SAT for the same purpose as Harvard. The SAT’s main competitor, the American College Testing, was formed in 1959.
By Megan Cloherty ‘26, Rising Assistant Copy Editor
26mcloherty@montroseschool.org
