Angelina Zhao

High school students every year crack down on practice books to improve their scores. With the new digital SAT, however, students must adjust to answering questions without their pens and papers.

Countless hours of studying through the seemingly sleepless nights, reading passages after passages that range from scientific to historical, and solving too many math problems that easily trick you. This is the usual life of high school students before the SAT season starts. That is until March of 2022, when the CSU Board of Trustees approved the removal of the SAT and ACT standardized tests from undergraduate admissions processes due to the notorious COVID-19 pandemic.

COVID-19 has caused a setback in many aspects of the education system; however, the biggest issue that arose was AP testing and the SAT, both of which are administered through the College Board. Due to quarantine restrictions, the AP testing was administered at home, but this was inapplicable to the SAT.

The College Board announced in early 2022 that it will offer the PSAT/NMSQT and SAT tests digitally starting in 2023 and 2024. The digital SAT differs from the traditional SAT in terms of length, section breakdown, time given per question, and even security.

So the question boils down to: Is the SAT even worth taking anymore?

That answer truly depends on what kind of student you ask and depends on many factors. However, it has always been debated whether or not standardized testing actually shows the full capability of a student. 

“I don’t think the SAT is necessarily the best way to measure a student’s intelligence, especially since some people have test anxiety,” Ayala alumni and freshman at University of California Irvine (UCI), Samantha Sudjarwadi said. “With the way the SAT is set up, I don’t think it allows students to truly show their level of intelligence and critical thinking.” 

Regardless, the SAT has always been a “traditional” high school experience and a perfect score of 1600 is something all high school students have dreamed of. 

For the Class of 2026 sophomores and under, the digital SAT is not a choice, but the class of 2025 can choose either to take the last distribution of the traditional SAT or wait for the new digital one. Or decide not to take it at all. 

“Personally, I would not take the new SAT next year because I tried both traditional and digital, but I definitely prefer pen and paper,” junior Lori Kim said.

Though it may not be as needed now, there are still many students who want to take the SAT as private colleges still take scores into consideration. 

“I would recommend to my friends that they take the SAT,” freshman Brianna Xie said. “Although it might sound scary, the SAT can definitely still be beneficial towards college and prepare you for what lies ahead.” 

When it comes to college applications, the SAT is only a small part of the process and students can still show their abilities and potential through other high school activities. 

“In my opinion, I don’t think an SAT score will ‘make or break’ your college application. That doesn’t mean a high score will be overlooked, but students shouldn’t have to stress over a score they think is ‘not enough,’” Sudjawardi said. “Colleges take into account your essays, extracurriculars and recommendations — where your true character and capabilities lie.”