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As part of the shift to digital, the SAT is now substantially shorter, lasting 2 hours and 14 minutes instead of 3 hours, with more time, on average, per question. The digital SAT is shorter while still assessing the same core reading, writing and math skills as the former paper and pencil SAT because it uses adaptive testing.
Adaptive Testing
The SAT and PSAT-related assessments use a multistage adaptive design. Each test section—1) Reading and Writing and 2) Math—is administered in two stages. Each stage consists of a module of test questions comprising half of the section's questions (20–25 operational questions and two pretest questions, which don't count for scoring, per module).
Students have half of the section time (32 minutes per module for Reading and Writing, 35 minutes per module for Math) to work through questions in the first module. During that time, they may preview upcoming questions, go back to questions, and change answers within the first module before time runs out.
The first module consists of questions with varying difficulty levels. Once time for the first module ends, the second module begins. The questions students are given in the second module are of mixed difficulty level, tailored to the student depending on how they performed on the questions in the first module, and their section score is based on how they did on all of the questions in both modules. As a result, students should try their best on every single question.
A range of section scores are possible no matter which second module a student sees. Students won't be advantaged just for seeing a higher difficulty set of questions in the second module, or disadvantaged just for seeing a lower difficulty set of questions in the second module. Students can also meet state and College Board benchmarks regardless of which second module they're routed to.
Scoring
The digital SAT's multistage adaptive test design and use of Item Response Theory (IRT) methodology allow for precise measurement of students' knowledge and skills with fewer questions in less time than possible with traditional paper and pencil tests. IRT is used by many national assessments, including the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) suite from the Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA), Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC), Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC), and many state assessments.
In the scoring model used for the digital SAT Suite, the scores students receive are a product of several factors, characteristics of the questions they answered right or wrong (e.g., the questions' difficulty levels), and the probability that the pattern of answers suggests they were guessing. One important implication of this method is that two students who answer the same number of questions correctly in a test section may earn differing section scores based on the characteristics, including difficulty level, of the particular questions they answered correctly.
Administrations of each digital SAT Suite assessment sample from the same content domains across the same range of skill/knowledge elements, meaning all students have an equitable opportunity to demonstrate their strengths. For most students who are trying their best on every question, it's better to guess than leave a question blank, especially if a student can eliminate one or two answer options before guessing.
Two pretest questions are also included in each module. The inclusion of these questions allows College Board to collect performance data on them and evaluate their suitability for possible use in future tests. Student responses to these pretest questions don't affect their scores.
Comparing Digital and Paper Test Scores
While the digital SAT Suite employs a different scoring methodology from paper testing, what the suite measures hasn't changed. The digital tests continue to measure the reading, writing, and math knowledge and skills that students are learning in high school and that matter most for college and career readiness. The digital SAT is still scored on a 400–1600 scale, and educators and students can continue to use digital SAT Suite scores to monitor growth over time.
Prior to the launch of the digital SAT in March 2023, two concordance studies established that scores from the digital SAT are comparable to scores from the paper and pencil SAT and can be used in the similar manner for college admissions and other intended purposes. For example, a score of 1050 on the digital SAT would correspond to and carry the same meaning as a score of 1050 on the paper and pencil SAT.
Additionally, the SAT College and Career Readiness benchmarks of 480 for the Reading and Writing section and 530 for the Math section are the same with the shift to digital testing. As we gather actual college performance data for students who have taken the digital SAT Suite tests, we'll empirically reexamine all benchmarks to validate and update them as needed.
