Making the SATs digital won't make them fair

College Board somehow managed to give the playing field yet another bump

A laptop.
(Image credit: Illustrated | iStock)

The last time I used a No. 2 pencil for anything more extensive than marking a wall to hang a picture was undoubtedly on my high school SAT exam. For generations now, the test's bubbled answer sheets and stern instructions (remove everything from your desk except your No. 2 pencils ... ) have been the stuff of recurring nightmares for those of us who ran the cumulative gauntlet of American education — as well as the stuff of debate for educators, whose claims about the dubious value and fairness of the tests reached a crescendo during the pandemic.

With more than 1,800 schools deciding not to require standardized test scores for 2022 admissions, the powerful College Board — which organizes and administers the test — likely saw the writing on the wall. On Tuesday, it announced plans to go entirely digital as well as to cut the test down from three hours to two hours, a choice that means "shorten[ing] reading passages," The New York Times reports.

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Jeva Lange

Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.