by Karina Correa | tech editor

College Board has announced the SAT will be given online starting next year for international students and in 2024 for U.S. based students.

“I think many testing companies are moving towards an online system in order to streamline the testing process and reduce cheating,” College Career & Military Readiness Specialist Tenley Barrow said.

There will be some changes to the test itself. Students will now be able to use a calculator for the entire math section. The digital test will also feature shorter reading passages with one question tied to each for the reading section. This will reduce the testing time from three hours to two.

“There seems to be a more positive impact on students as the [testing] program shows that students are less stressed when taking the exam in a digital format.  There is also less chance of cheating because each student is given a unique testing format,” Barrow said.

Students will be able to use their own computer or device to take the test. This will make distribution and grading of the tests more efficient. 

“The [testing] program shows some very positive results for testing proctors as well as students.  The test would be about an hour shorter and make it much easier for those administering the exam because there wouldn’t be hours of labor-intensive work in regards to sorting, packing, and manually checking each and every paper exam,” Barrow said. 

Scores will now arrive in a few days, rather than in a few weeks. 

“Our current sophomores and freshmen will benefit from this new version of the SAT,” Barrow said.