On January 28, 2022, TPAPT, a national consortium of tutors and college admissions professionals organized an informal meeting to discuss the change.
Here is some of the information shared at the meeting:
The digital version of the test will not simply be the current test delivered digitally. It will be a computer adaptive test (or CAT). Each student will see a unique set of questions. Which questions a student sees later in the test will be determined by how well the student did early in the test. There are multiple ways to approach computer adaptive testing, and we have been told that the revised SAT will use the method that is currently being used for the GRE - the test many students need to apply to graduate school. In this method, the test material is delivered in "chunks", or groups of questions. Student performance in the first chunk will determined whether the second chunk will be easy, medium, or difficult. Whereas the scaled score on the current SAT counts all questions as being equal in value, the scaled score on the new version will be affected by the difficulty of the questions in the second chunk.
A calculator of some kind will be allowed on all math questions. (The current version has a calculator-inactive section.) The rumor that was shared is that students would have access to DESMOS - an online graphing calculator app - during the test. If true, this would represent an improvement for most students since DESMOS has become the primary graphing calculator used in schools, supplanting the TI-84.
The reading section will be combined with the writing and language section. It is unclear what this will look like.
Some questions were raised to which we do not yet have answers:
Will the scores on the revised test have a normal curve similar to that of the current test? More specifically, would a particular individual score on the new test be roughly equivalent to the same score on the current test? Is that even a goal that they will consider as they design and write the new test items and as they set the scaling algorithms?
Will the scaling algorithm be transparent? In the past, the College Board has released tests along with the scaling table for that test. The scaling algorithm was clearly spelled out: so many correct answers = this particular scaled score. If every individual student has a unique set of test questions, we likely won't have any released tests. They've promised "practice material" on Khan Academy, which will likely include full simulations of practice tests along with a scaled score at the end, but will they share the scaling algorithm?
Will the students be issued scratch paper?
Pilot testing went well - both students and proctors were pleased. However, what will happen as they scale up and have to contend with the inevitable technology snafus?
Will the two chunks of verbal questions be given back to back, or will there be a chunk of math in between?
How will this affect the advanced math student who hasn't seen the material in the first math chunk since middle school? Will that prevent them from being presented the difficult math questions that reflect their current course work?
I'm sure we'll be getting more information over the coming months, and those of us who are gearing up to prepare students for this new challenge will be watching for the promised prep material!
