I hate the SAT.

Students shouldn’t have to sit in a room for three hours to show how smart they are when they’ve been doing that for the last twelve years? Now that more students are fleeing to the ACT or scrapping the idea of standardized testing all together with the emergence of test-optional applications, College Board has finally decided to change.

In early 2022, College Board announced that a set of alterations were coming to the dreaded test: the SAT will be taken digitally, significantly shorter, and questions in the English section will become more concise. 

Taking the test from a personal computer gives students more comfort during the stressful exam, alleviating unnecessary stress. Plus, being digital allows the results to come in much faster, which shortens the month-long waiting game of dread. It was hell waiting a full month for my results to come back, only for the website to crash many times before I could actually see my score.

The fact that the SAT will now be a third shorter is huge. Less time overall helps students focus their energy on the sections they are taking, instead of having to think about the many hours ahead of them. 

We also know that SAT scores often reflect who can pay for tutoring. Getting extra help for standardized testing is something only few can afford, as tutoring can range from $50 to $100 per hour. Hopefully, moving away from the SAT will move us away from these.

As standardized testing changes more and more, these tests will soon become obsolete. We know that a test only shows a small fraction of a student’s true potential, and admissions officers are realizing it too. •