Olivia Carofano, Blogs Editor
@OCarofano32144
This March, juniors took the new Digital SAT. The assessment is designed to measure current levels of student performance in relation to state standards and college readiness. The replacement of the SAT paper format to a purely digital format has introduced a more streamlined and efficient testing experience for the schools and students.
Reflecting on the Digital SAT experience post-administration, the junior class finds itself amongst a range of opinions and reflections concerning the effectiveness and difficulties of the newly introduced format. While some students think moving to a digital test is beneficial due to high levels of comfort with electronics, others find it hard to adjust to and have experienced difficulty while taking the new assessments, such as the timing, pacing and wording of questions.
Junior Spencer Paine took his first non-practice exam this spring and felt comfortable with the new format. “I felt that the exam was similar to the PSAT. In terms of sections, I like the English section a lot better because it’s now broken up into smaller passages.” Spencer said. “The overall exam felt a little bit more predictable to me, but that might be just because I mainly studied for, the digital SAT more than the paper one.”
Assistant principal and Junior class representative, Ari Rothman highlights the importance of the new digital exam being more efficient and user friendly. “The move to digital testing, from a school perspective, eliminated a lot of paperwork like the booklets and scantron sheets as well as students being able to use their own devices. We provided loaner laptops if there were any issues logging into the new platform,” Mr. Rothman said.
In regards to accommodations on the Digital SAT, students have the option to waive their accommodations for the exam if they choose. Mr. Rothman has seen many instances where students would like to waive their accommodations for the test. “With their accommodations, some students may feel it’s too much time for an exam,” he said. “Some students decide not to use their accommodations for the PSATs and SATs just to have a clean benchmark of where they are, and what they can do, and then there are students who don’t think they will be able to focus for the extended period of time,” Mr. Rothman said.
The new digital format includes resources like a Desmos calculator, formula sheet and a protractor which has been beneficial for many students taking the exam. Spencer used the Desmos calculator in the math section and found it very useful. “I used the Desmos calculator which was helpful for the math section because a majority of the questions could just be solved by plugging it into Desmos, but besides that, it was useful and I didn’t use any of my own devices,” he said.
Difficulties some students encountered with the Digital SAT was logging into the platform. Mr. Rothman and the school’s tech support have devised a plan to avoid problems like these for the junior SAT to make sure that the exam runs smoothly with minimal issues. “In order to prevent any technological difficulties we asked junior year social studies classes to go through and make sure that Bluebook works or can at least be accessed,” Mr. Rothman said. “Then, if any student had an issue we had a person from the tech crew check it out and determine if they need a loaner.”
Overall, the transition from paper to digital standardized tests has brought several changes and benefits for test-takers and administrators. With the absence of sharpened pencils, test booklets and scantron sheets, students embrace a new efficient and electronic platform, Bluebook, that will now be implemented as the Digital SAT program.
