College Board announced that the SAT, one of the most popular standardized tests for college readiness, is going completely digital, along with changes to the length and structure of the test, by 2024 in the United States 

“We’ve been hearing feedback from students and educators about what it’s like to take the SAT and what it’s like to give students the SAT,” vice president of college readiness assessments at College Board, Priscilla Rodriguez said to U.S. News. “And some of the rigidity, stress and the length of the test, we could only make those kinds of changes going digital.”

The test has been modified to fit the changing needs of college readiness.

“The digital test will feature shorter reading passages with one question tied to each, and passages will reflect a wider range of topics that represent the works students read in college,” College Board said in a news release. “Calculators will be allowed on the entire Math section. Students and educators will get scores back in days, instead of weeks.”

Another one of the main changes is the length of the test which is being cut down by about an hour to two hours in length.

“It won’t apply to me but I think it’s better,” sophomore Aaron Xu said. “So [College Board] making everything shorter is a good improvement.”

However, not everyone is pleased with the announcement and are concerned about the changes.

“My only concern is about cheating,” junior Tanmay Gupta said. “I’m not sure how College Board is going to restrict cheating online.” 

Besides cheating concerns, most students think the changes are going to make the SAT easier and lead to a decrease in test prep.

“I feel like the entire school system is being shifted to become easier and more accessible,” freshman Sia Parpelli said. “It’ll certainly be easier and more manageable to take as compared to earlier years and that it will be less pressure upon students who are spending all their time in prepping for it.”