Digital SAT Scoring | Adaptive Testing FAQ's

Digital SAT Revealed: Scoring + Adaptive Testing

A pivotal milestone in the landscape of college admissions in the United States, the SAT has recently undergone a significant transformation with the introduction of its digital format. This new iteration, the Digital SAT, offers a more personalized and efficient assessment experience for students. In this blog post, we'll delve into the key aspects of the Digital SAT, including its scoring system, adaptive testing mechanism, and how it differs from the traditional paper-based version

Scoring

Familiar Scale: The Digital SAT uses the same scoring scale as the paper-based SAT: 400-1600 total, with each section (Reading & Writing, Math) scored from 200 to 800.
Section Scores: Your performance on each section determines your individual section score.
Total Score: The sum of your Reading & Writing and Math section scores.

Adaptive Testing

Multistage Adaptive Testing (MST): The difficulty of the second module in each section adjusts based on your performance in the first module.
Two Modules per Section: Each section is divided into two modules.
Module 1: A mix of easy, medium, and hard questions.
Performance Evaluation: Your Module 1 performance determines the difficulty of Module 2.
Module 2: Adaptive difficulty based on Module 1 results.
No Going Back: Once you move to Module 2, you cannot revisit Module 1 questions.

Purpose of Adaptive Testing:

Provides a more personalized assessment.
Accurately measures skills and knowledge.
Contrasts with the fixed-difficulty format of the paper-based SAT.

Additional Points:

Panels: A combination of a specific Module 1 and its corresponding Module 2.
Embedded Pretesting: Unscored questions used for future test development.

Note: The exact relationship between Module 1 performance and Module 2 difficulty may be proprietary information of the College Board