While the SAT has had a constant presence in the college admissions process for over 60 years now, it has by no means been consistent in its presentation. The way it tests students’ reading and writing skills bears little resemblance to what the original SAT looked like, as evolving instructional methodology and changing philosophy on higher education have driven many revisions through the years.
Although the SAT is no longer a requirement for admission at many colleges, it remains a fairly objective data point that schools can use to evaluate students from different regions and backgrounds.
In 2024, a significant overhaul creates a new Reading and Writing section that merges elements of the current Reading test and Writing and Language test. But the College Board isn’t just modifying the format—it’s changing the entire method of delivery.
Why is the SAT changing again so soon?
By March of this year, the current test will be no more, and the digital SAT will be in charge. That means students will be entering a transition period where they can prepare for either test. Informed SAT prep tutors can help you navigate that transition and be ready for this major adjustment to test configuration
Although the College Board is always looking for ways to tweak the SAT, this most recent revision comes just seven years after the last comprehensive modification. It was only in 2016 that the SAT was revamped to eliminate a required essay and condense the multiple short sections of the old test into the current Reading and Writing and Language sections. Initially, that version of the SAT had an optional essay that students could sign up for, but the College Board would eventually eliminate that element.
The main motivation behind the configuration of the current SAT was to create a college-readiness exam that replaced what used to be an intelligence test. For the Evidence-Based Reading and Writing portion of the test, students must read several long passages and then answer 10-11 questions on each one. In every SAT, at least one passage contains material from the 1800s, and many of the Reading sections include comparisons of speeches made in that era. Test-takers must also contend with complex scientific passages often accompanied by infographics.
As more students took the current version of the SAT, the College Board began to hear more and more complaints about the layout of the Reading section in particular. The passages were just too long, many of them were difficult to comprehend, and the questions were often confusing and time-consuming.
Well, the College Board was listening, and in 2021 it announced a plan for radical reconstruction. A pilot program conducted later that year revealed that students liked the revised questions and streamlined format. Rather than laboring over many questions based on long and challenging passages, test-takers get short passages with one question each, accompanied by precise directions.
What does the new Reading and Writing test format look like?
The new test will be digitally delivered, but it’s not an online SAT in the sense of being accessible from anywhere. Students will still take the test either at their schools or at official testing locations. Rather than completing the test on pencil and paper, though, they will submit their responses electronically using the Bluebook app. Students will use their own devices to take the test, although the College Board will provide you with one if you contact them in advance.
Another element of the new test’s digital format is its multi-stage adaptive design. Each Reading and Writing portion of the digital SAT is divided into two separately timed modules of equal length.
You’ll begin by answering the questions in the first module, which will then by analyzed by a computer program that “adapts” the second module to give you questions more appropriate for your achievement level. The questions you get in the second module will be either harder or easier (on average) than those in the first module, thus producing a more efficient assessment that is tailored to the abilities of each student.
Each Reading and Writing module of the new SAT will give you 32 minutes to answer 27 questions. That’s a total of 64 minutes for the entire Reading and Writing section, making it substantially shorter than the current Evidence-Based Reading and Writing sections, which clock in at 1 hour and 40 minutes. In fact, the Reading section alone in the current SAT is essentially as long (65 minutes) as both Reading and Writing modules combined in the new test.
Unlike the College Board’s last big design updates in 2005 and 2016, there will be no change to the scoring system. The familiar 1600-point scoring scale will remain in place, with a maximum score of 800 for the Reading and Writing section. Don’t worry about the difficulty level of the questions in the second modules, as the scoring scale for each person’s performance will adjust accordingly. That means your score won’t suffer if your second module is harder than the first, nor will you gain any kind of advantage if your second module is easier than the first.
Is the content covered any different than what’s on the current test?
For the most part, the skills tested on the current test are the same ones assessed on the new SAT, but there are some changes to SAT guidelines that are worth noting. Presently, the College Board evaluates students’ competence across three content domains: Command of Evidence, Words in Context, and Standard English Conventions. The last one remains on the digital SAT, but Command of Evidence and Words in Context have been reimagined as the long passages have been eliminated.
With the reading section of the SAT and the writing section of the SAT being merged into the new Reading and Writing section, the College Board now lists four content domains for the 54 questions in the two modules:
- Craft and Structure (13-15 questions): Measures the comprehension, vocabulary, analysis, synthesis, and reasoning skills, along with the knowledge needed to understand and use words and phrases in context, evaluate texts rhetorically, and make connections between topically related texts
- Information and Ideas (12-14 questions): Measures comprehension, analysis, and reasoning skills, as well as the knowledge and the ability to locate, interpret, evaluate, and integrate information and texts from infographics (tables, bar graphs, and line graphs)
- Standard English Conventions (11-15 questions): Measures the ability to edit texts to conform to conventions of Standard English in sentence structure, usage, and punctuation
- Expression of Ideas (8-12 questions): Measures the ability to revise texts to improve the effectiveness of written expression and to meet specific rhetorical goals
Such profound changes to the SAT can be scary, but fortunately there are experts who can equip you for the Reading and Writing test. As you work with an experienced SAT tutor, you will grow confident in your ability to use information and ideas, analyze craft and structure, improve rhetorical expression of ideas, and edit according to the rules of Standard English.
How do questions on the new SAT differ from those on the current Reading section?
For each reading question on the digital SAT, you will be given 1-2 paragraphs of prose, a short poetry excerpt, or an infographic with an accompanying description. Instead of “big picture” questions about the main purpose or central claim of a lengthy passage, you’ll get one question about the main idea of one paragraph.
The current version of the SAT asks about the function of certain paragraphs in a text, but the new test will ask about the function of a single sentence. While passage comparisons will remain a part of the new SAT, now you’ll only have to answer one question about a paragraph each from two authors, rather than multiple questions based on two long passages.
Perhaps the most significant change will be in the questions that assess students’ ability to identify supporting evidence. Since the inception of the present format of the Reading section, the most notoriously dreaded kind of questions were the ones that asked students to find the lines in the text that supported their answer to a previous question.
Since passages will no longer have anywhere near that many lines in the text, students won’t have to navigate those frustrating pairs of questions. The new SAT has one paragraph per question, so you’ll only need to show that you understand the passage.
Most of the adjustments to the reading questions are due to the College Board discontinuing long passages. You will still see questions about main purpose, function of parts of the text, and interpretation of infographics. Only now, you won’t have to read and process 70-100 lines of text to answer such questions.
How do questions on the new SAT differ from those on the current Writing and Language section?
The writing questions on the new SAT are also based on short portions of text rather than lengthy passages, so you won’t have to deal with questions that require you to consider context beyond just that one paragraph.
Whereas questions on the current test may ask you to identify what revision of the text provides the most relevant supporting information for a particular paragraph in a long passage, now you’ll simply be asked to select the most logical completion of the short text.
Although the digital SAT won’t really test anything different than what it presently covers, it does offer several improvements to existing question structures. One confusing element about the current Writing and Language section is the directions on many of the questions—or to be more accurate, a lack of directions. Questions designed to test students’ knowledge of grammar or word usage would simply offer four answer choices but no instructions on what they were to look for. Yes, there are directions at the beginning of the section, but few test-takers are going to read that information and retain it throughout the entire section. When the first answer choice is NO CHANGE, that means that the existing underlined portion should be retained.
The new Reading and Writing format removes the confusion by providing clear directions on what you should be looking for, and it disposes of the NO CHANGE option. Instead of underlining a portion of text like the current test does, the digital SAT positions a blank space in the text that you can fill in with one of the answer choices.
There is one new type of question, though. In each Reading and Writing section, you will see a few questions with bullet-points lists that ask for the best way to use that information to accomplish a certain goal.
When are these changes going into place, and how can I prepare accordingly?
The digital version is already being used for the International SAT, and in March 2024 it will take over in the United States as well. Also at that time, the PSAT 10 will be administered to sophomores in its new form.
In October 2023, younger students will get to take the new PSAT 8/9, while high school juniors will get their first look at the digital format in the PSAT, which also serves as the National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (NMSQT).
If you are one of the many students that have already taken the current SAT or begun preparing for it, you may be wondering whether you should stay on the same path or change course in light of the new SAT. Since the current test will stayed in place through the end of 2023, seniors will not be affected by the upcoming transition, while sophomores who have started their SAT prep early should redirect their focus onto the new test.
If you’re a junior, however, then choosing how to prepare for the new SAT Reading and Writing section is definitely a more complicated decision. Many 11th graders like to begin the prep process before the school year even starts, then take their first SAT in the fall. If they don’t get the scores they were hoping for, they can always retake the test in the spring or summer of the next year. For those in the Class of 2025, though, that approach won’t be available—not if you want to take the same form of SAT every time.
If you have already begun your SAT prep journey, then you’ll want to consult your tutor. If you are just starting out and or have hit a wall trying to get ready on your own, then you should consider test prep tutoring. No student feels comfortable when the College Board radically redesigns test structure, so it only makes sense to seek out an SAT Reading and Writing tutor who can answer your questions and develop your plan of attack.
One-on-one tutoring, either online or in-person, can provide you with the wisdom and guidance you need to reach your goals.
