Will the Class of 2024 take the SAT?

The College Board recently announced the SAT will shift from a paper-and-pencil test to a computer-based exam in 2024. In addition to moving to a digital format, the 2024 SAT will undergo several format changes, including a shorter exam length, adaptive test questions and easier reading passages. 

The SAT will no longer be a pencil-and-paper test but will be transitioning to a digital format in ... [+] 2024.

The SAT changing its format is nothing new and happens almost every decade. The last significant redesign of the SAT was in 2016 when the exam went from its 2400-point format back to 1600 points. However, the 2024 SAT redesign may be its most significant change. 

To gain a better understanding of what these changes could look like, Moon Prep spoke with Shaan Patel, MD, MBA, the founder and CEO of Prep Expert SAT & ACT Preparation and winner of a Shark Tank deal with billionaire Mark Cuban. Here are his insights why the College Board is making the dramatic shift in the format of the SAT. 

Digital Tests Are Cheaper To Administer

At the end of the day, the College Board is a business, and businesses need to generate profit. Recently, the College Board has been generating significantly less revenue given that fewer students are taking the SAT compared to years past because of the shift to test-optional college admissions. 

If businesses can’t increase revenue to generate profits, then the next step is to reduce expenses. It is no secret that administering digital exams is significantly cheaper than administering paper-and-pencil tests. There are many costs involved for paper-and-pencil tests, including shipping the test booklets and grading scantrons. Because digital standardized tests are much cheaper to administer than paper-and-pencil tests, the 2024 digital SAT will be much more profitable to the College Board. 

The 2024 SAT Will Be Easier

The College Board will make the 2024 SAT more streamlined. They have already hinted at a few ways that it will be easier for students: 

• The exam will be two hours long instead of three.
• The reading passages will be shorter and only have one question associated with each passage.
• The math section will allow calculators at all times unlike the current version of the SAT that includes a math section that does not allow calculators. 

According to Patel, “The College Board purposely makes the SAT easier with every redesign because it wants more students to take the SAT.” 

In 2013, when it was announced that more students took the ACT than the SAT for the first time ever, the College Board put out a press release in 2014 that it would be redesigning the SAT in 2016. At that time, the College Board made many format changes to the SAT to make it an easier exam, including making it a shorter exam, making the reading passages less difficult, and no longer penalizing students for incorrect answers. As a result, in 2017, the SAT regained the lead — more students took the SAT than the ACT. 

Patel says it's become a race to the bottom: who can make the test easier between the SAT and the ACT. More students will choose to take the easier exam. Therefore, you can expect the 2024 digital SAT to be the easiest version of the test to date. 

More College And Career Preparedness

With every redesign of the SAT, the College Board has the opportunity to advertise how the new version of the test is different. Although the SAT is simply a standardized test that can be practiced and prepared for, the College Board does not want parents, teachers and schools to see it that way. “The College Board would like people to view the SAT as an accurate predictor of students’ college and career preparedness,” said Patel.  

The College Board is under immense pressure to justify why students should still take the SAT now that test-optional colleges are here to stay. Therefore, the College Board will use the 2024 SAT redesign as an opportunity to tout how the new version of the test will accurately measure what students learn in high school and correctly predict how they will perform in college. The truth is, the SAT is just a standardized test that measures how much a student prepared for the test.

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In short, yes. Having strong scores that students can submit to a wide range of schools will help them in the college admission process. In this test-optional environment, we encourage students to view the tests with an ‘everything to gain, nothing to lose’ mindset. 

In 2020, a large number of colleges and universities adopted test-optional admission policies. Most did so in empathetic response to the difficulty high school students faced as they tried to take the SAT or ACT during the early months of the pandemic.

The testing landscape that we saw earlier in the pandemic has changed. Schools are now fully open and tests are being offered regularly, so students who choose to test can now do so. Many colleges, however, have opted to extend their test-optional policies for the Class of 2023. Some schools such as MIT and larger state universities, however, have returned to requiring standardized testing.

For the Class of 2024 it is difficult to predict exactly what the test-optional landscape will look like. We anticipate that a number of colleges that implemented test-optional policies during the pandemic will continue to extend them. However, we also anticipate that an increasing number of schools will return to requiring standardized test scores. 

In addition, for many of the selective colleges for the class of 2021 (the class year that was most impacted by COVID closures of test centers), well over 50% of their enrolled students had submitted test scores, indicating that standardized tests can still play a decisive role in the college admission process.

Everything to Gain, Nothing to Lose

What does this mean for our future college applicants? Since test-optional does not mean test-blind, we recommend that most, if not all, juniors should keep standardized tests on their radar and plan to submit SAT or ACT scores as part of their applications.

With a test score in hand, students have everything to gain and nothing to lose. If some schools on your list require scores, you’ll be ready to submit those scores. If others are test-optional, you’ll then have the choice to submit if you feel those scores will represent you well. Dismissing standardized tests out of hand now could present students with a missed opportunity to showcase their academic abilities. Most of our students end up with strong scores that represent them well.

Additionally, an SAT or ACT score can provide data that reinforces a student’s GPA and academic ability, showing that the student can manage the academic rigors of the institution. Throughout this pandemic, student learning – through nobody’s fault – has been hampered. Grade inflation has been trending upward for years, and COVID has arguably accelerated that trend.

Class of 2024

We recommend that high school juniors take a practice SAT and ACT in the summer, prior to the start of the school year, or early in the fall. Use these practice test scores and your test-taking experience to decide between the SAT-ACT, then create a test plan with target test dates and a study schedule. As a free service to families, Summit provides a consultation following your practice tests to discuss score results and offer guidance on your test plan.

Both the SAT and ACT are curriculum-based tests and a student’s performance correlates with age, maturity, and time spent in school. Students generally reach their peak score in spring of junior year or early fall of senior year.

Test prep planning is a highly individualized process and no two plans are exactly alike. Read this article for some general guidelines for students who will want to consider testing sooner, rather than later in the school year.

Frequently Asked Questions Related to Test-Optional Admissions

What is the difference between a test-blind and a test-optional admission policy?

Test-blind means that test scores are NOT considered at all in the admissions process. Not many schools are test-blind.

Test-optional means you have the option to send scores or not to send scores. If you send scores, they will be seen and considered by admissions officers. Scores that are in the higher end of the published SAT and ACT ranges for that school will be seen favorably by the admissions team.

Historically, well over 50% of enrolled students in selective test-optional schools submitted test scores, with more selective schools having percentages of 60-80% or even higher. Even with the pandemic, these percentages seemed to have remained.

How do I know whether or not I should submit scores to a school with a test-optional admission policy?

Generally speaking, if your scores put you in the upper 50% of a school’s SAT or ACT range, you should send them. Consult with your counselor for guidance as to whether or not it makes sense to send scores.

Also, keep in mind that you can submit scores strategically. You might send scores to particular colleges or universities and not to others. You are in complete control of which test-optional schools see your scores and which ones do not.

I am a recruited athlete. How should I think about test scores?

Even though a school might be test-optional, coaches might still need an SAT or ACT score to prove to their admission teams that they are recruiting athletes who meet a certain academic threshold. We encourage you to check with the coaches/colleges that are recruiting you.

I’m hoping to get merit aid. Should I submit test scores?

Merit aid scholarships, which are generally non-need-based financial aid scholarships, often factor in grades and test scores in determining the amount of those awards. Students with strong test scores are in a better position to maximize merit aid than students with no scores or weaker scores. For context, schools use merit aid scholarships as a recruitment tool to entice strong students to apply and ultimately enroll in their institutions. By factoring in standardized tests, the colleges encourage students with strong test scores to enroll, thereby raising the academic profile and prestige of that institution through their published SAT and ACT scores. Always reach out directly to the institution to inquire whether or not test scores are factored into merit aid scholarships.

When it comes to standardized testing, Summit has always counseled families to take a sane and sensible approach and, perhaps that guidance is more important now than ever before. I encourage you to contact us if you have any questions about taking the SAT or ACT in a college admissions world that is mostly test-optional.

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