Editor’s note: Zen Weaver is a junior at Aptos High School.
This is the first part in a two part series about the digitalization of the SAT and its many implications
The era of No. 2 pencils and Scantron sheets is drawing to a close.
Soon the sounds of rustling pages and scribbled notes on scratch paper will be reminiscent of bygone days. In their place, fluorescent screens and clickable answers now shape the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) experience for high school students in Santa Cruz County—and across the nation.
These tests are rapidly evolving, leaving many to wonder if the digital shift will redefine more than just the way students fill in answers.
For students, educators, and parents, the digital SAT represents both a leap forward in technology and a new set of challenges. This shift to digital, designed to streamline and modernize testing, raises additional questions about access, equity, and academic readiness — issues that are felt locally but resonate on a national scale as the role of technology in education expands.
“We still have a digital divide,” said Faris Sabbah, Santa Cruz County Superintendent of Schools. “We still have people that don’t have broadband access, and that’s something that we’re all working really hard to try to increase…working off of a slow connection…the learning opportunities and the resources you can access… [are] very different.”
For some students, the transition to digital is an exciting step forward. For others, it highlights long-standing gaps in educational access, forcing communities to confront questions about technology, equity, and the future of learning in an increasingly digital world.
Aptos High School senior Jackson Bloom said that the shift to a digital format at his own high school posed no significant threat to his test-taking ability.
“My confidence taking a test is in my knowledge of the subject, not my knowledge of the platform,” he said.
Jackson is not alone in this belief. He shares it with many actively involved in the school system–challenging the popular argument that going digital poses a threat to effective test-taking.
This is further supported by the fact that many argue the digital SAT provides an ideal environment for high-stakes testing.
Dominic Lis, proctor for the preliminary SAT (pSAT) and SAT at Aptos High School, contends that “digital assessments [are]… way easier from a proctoring perspective and a testing/coordinating perspective… with digital testing there are so many fewer testing instructions that students have to adhere to.”
Increased ease of instruction and distribution of digital tests for proctors means more time alloted to ensuring students are provided the ideal conditions to take one of—if not the most—important tests in their academic journey.
In addition to the reduced strain on proctors and beneficial environmental factors, Lis also finds in his experience as a proctor that “transferring to digital is bringing about less challenges…I believe that students are more focused on the test during digital testing and… a lot of that has to do with the lack of distractions… in the room when we’re doing digital testing.”
The digital SAT simplifies and streamlines the testing experience, cutting out unnecessary factors and making it increasingly easier for students to navigate the actual process. Lis further emphasizes this idea, noticing a significant decrease in the complexity of the testing process, and stating that, “there is not a lot of cognitive load on figuring out how the technology works for the student.”
Even students who have experience with, and are accustomed to, a paper-based SAT concede that there are distinct benefits to the digitized version.
Juliana Alvarez-Rocha, who has taken the test three times, and is more accustomed to the physical copy, says that, “it is… easier to get distracted when taking the test on paper… in addition to the test questions, you have to go back and forth making sure that you bubbled in the right [answer].”
Students in the modern age of technology are not only served more effectively, but their ability to adapt to changing circumstances continues to be one of their greatest assets.
Jillian Weisner, recent Aptos High School graduate and freshman at UC Los Angeles, reaffirms the idea that “students are taught to adapt. If the pSAT is also given digitally, I think they will be just fine.”
With the ever-increasing access to technology for all ages, it is clear that a shift to digital SAT test-taking does not significantly impact the ways in which students approach these important educational opportunities.
The final part in this two-part series will cover the impacts that socioeconomics can have on the digital SAT and its accessibility.
