March 28th, 2024 – The College Board quietly added two additional Digital SAT practice tests following the release of scores from the March 9th exam. These new practice tests are much more difficult than the original four that were made available to students preparing for the first digital SAT in the US.
To prepare for the March administration of the digital SAT, students only had access to four practice tests on the official testing app, Bluebook, and the first digital PSAT that was offered back in October. Students who took the PSAT walked away from the exam feeling great about the test. It was shorter, there was less reading, and they could use their calculator on all the math questions. They also felt that the test was easier than what they were expecting, and their scores reflected that.Â
The original four digital practice tests have a similar level of difficulty as the PSAT, reinforcing this idea that if the PSATs scores were accurate, it wouldn’t be that hard to achieve a “good” score on the real exam. Unfortunately, that was not the case for many students.
The March SAT exam, particularly the harder second module of the math section, was much more difficult than anyone was anticipating. And students weren’t alone. An entire test preparation industry was disheartened, but not entirely surprised that the difficulty level of the available materials released by the College Board didn’t align with the official exam.
How Curvebreakers Is Helping Students Prepare
In the summer of 2023, Curvebreakers partnered with Test Innovators to provide students with a practice testing platform. We believe the questions in this platform are the right level of difficulty but acknowledge that the initial scoring hasn’t been accurate. The SAT is using complicated psychometrics to grade the test, and 3rd party content providers had to guess how the scoring would work on an adaptive test with fewer questions. Now that data is available from the official exam, Test Innovators and other companies in the industry will be able to refine their scoring algorithms.Â
Every weekend, students are welcome to register for full-length, proctored practice tests. All our practice tests scheduled for the weekend before the March SAT exam are usually fully booked. However, this year, we noticed that they were nearly empty and attended mostly by students preparing for the ACT.
Here are different options for what students can do now:
The upside is that students have many opportunities left to superscore. SAT exams will be held in May, June, August, October, November, and December. With the exception of early admission deadlines, many juniors can sit for the SAT all the way into December of their senior year. Our recommendation has always been to sit for at least 2-3 official exams. Preparing for the SAT (and ACT) is a long game if you want to achieve your best possible score.
- Consider the ACT
If you never took an ACT practice test to compare against an SAT practice test score, you should start there. The ACT test is stable, and outcomes are more predictable. If you find that your ACT score is comparable to your SAT score, consider preparing for the ACT instead. This will reduce some of the anxiety of the “unknown” caused by the digital SAT. Our diagnostic ACT score reports will show the equivalency score between SAT and ACT. Schedule a practice test online or call (516) 728-1561. - Keep trying, but change how you practice
We now know that the PSAT and the first four Bluebook practice tests are not good indicators of what score you’ll receive on the actual exam. Make sure that the SAT questions you are practicing are more rigorous than these exams, and if you take a Bluebook test to get a sense of your score, only take practice tests 5 & 6.
Students need to continue to engage in taking numerous, timed practice tests before taking the real test. While practice materials are being improved, students should focus their preparation on the number of correct vs incorrect practice questions rather than fixating on a practice test score. - Talk to Nicholas LaPoma, the owner of Curvebreakers
We want to see students succeed on their exams and in school. The mission of our company is to help students find the best individual paths that get them into their dream schools and careers. If you are frustrated with the outcome of your March SAT score, we would love to help you get on the right track. There is still time to improve your score, and we are confident we can help you get there. Schedule a consultation online or call (516) 728-1561.