Who needs paper? Many students are embracing the all-digital SAT.

The Scantron bubbles were gone. So did the page-long passages and the pressure to read them quickly. No. 2 pencils? Optional, and only for taking notes.

On Saturday, students in America took the latest version of the SAT, which was shorter, faster – and, most importantly, all online.

Some exams were briefly disrupted by technical problems, but candidates still generally had a positive opinion of the new format. They were particularly relieved by the brevity of the exam – which dropped from three hours to just over two hours – and the ability to set their own pace as they worked through the questions.

“It’s here to stay,” said Harvey Joiner, 17, a junior at Maynard H. Jackson High School in Atlanta, referring to the digital format. “Computers are what we feel most comfortable with.”

Taught on paper for 98 years, the SAT has been updated to reflect the experience of a generation raised in an era of increased anxiety, decreased attention spans and remote learning. The change comes as the College Board, which administers the test, and proponents of testing standardization say the exams still play a role in determining college acceptance and eligibility.

Disrupted by the pandemic and roiled by concerns that the tests favor high-income students, the SAT has had a shaky few years, with many colleges eliminating standardized testing as an admissions requirement. Some selective universities, including Brown, Yale, Dartmouth and MIT, have since reintroduced the test, but at most schools it has remained optional.

The current version of the test aims to take some of the intimidation out of the process and evaluate modern students with tools they are more accustomed to. The test has been shortened and students have been given more time for each question. The reading passages are much shorter and there is an online graphing calculator built into the application for the math portion, which some see as a way to level the playing field for low-income students.

The tests are also harder to cheat, with ‘adaptive’ questions that become harder or easier depending on a student’s performance. Students can bring their own laptops or tablets or use school-provided equipment, but must not have any other application running in the background, and must take the test at a public testing center with a proctor walking around the room.

Many students seemed happy with this new setup on Saturday. Naysa Srivastava, a 17-year-old who took the test in Chicago, found that the brevity of the reading passages and built-in calculator better reflected her experience as an online learner. “Almost all of my classes are digital,” she said.

Elijah McGlory, 18, a senior at Druid Hills High School in Atlanta, said taking the test digitally was “much better” compared to the paper version. “I started getting more questions online,” he said.

Sharen Pitts, a retired teacher who worked as a proctor in and around Chicago for four years, noticed several of her students echoing the sentiment after the test she supervised Saturday. But she added that some “preferred paper because digital was harder on the eyes.”

Ms Pitts said the main difference she noticed on Saturday with the new format was the reduced testing time, which some teachers see as a negative change for students. Critics of the new SAT have said the shorter exam and reading passages do not help students develop the greater reading skills they need amid constant distractions from technology.

But the speed of the test was offset by a series of technical problems.

Some testing centers delayed the start of the exam as students had trouble connecting to Wi-Fi. Specifically, test takers at Oak Park River Forest and Georgia State University experienced delays of 30 to 45 minutes due to connection issues.

“It took a while for everyone to have the Internet,” said Matthew Schmitt, a 16-year-old from Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood. “But this is the first time they are doing the digital SAT.”

On social media, students and parents reported other problems, including math answers that seemed incorrect and calculations frozen on the screen. In New York, Lida Safa, 15, noticed technical issues, such as a student needing a charger at her testing center. And she brought her own calculator, as a stopgap in case the online calculator felt too unfamiliar.

This isn’t the first time test takers have encountered problems with digital versions of standardized exams. In recent years, several high school students taking the Advanced Placement tests online have had problems with functions such as submitting their answers and logging in.

Priscilla Rodriguez, senior vice president of college readiness assessments at the College Board, said “a vast majority of students” were able to complete the new SAT on Saturday.

“Just like with paper-and-pencil testing, digital testing can involve issues with individual students or testing centers,” Ms. Rodriguez said. She added that those who had trouble testing would be able to retake the exam if necessary.

And students didn’t seem too concerned about the setbacks on Saturday. Chicago’s Naysa saw bugs as an inevitable feature of any new system. And Danny Morrison, 16, who tested in Atlanta, said: “I think they’ll become more efficient as they continue.”

Some also liked a feature of the test that puts each student on an automatic timer, rather than leaving the stop and start times up to the proctor.

“It used to be your teacher who had to get the timing right, and you had to wait until everyone was ready to take a break,” says Lora Paliakov, 16, from Atlanta.

Matthew, the 16-year-old from Chicago, noted that “you could work more at your own pace.” Some found that this made the entire testing experience less stressful.

Nerves, however, were another matter. Lida, the 15-year-old in New York who attends Razi School, a private Islamic institution, had taken the paper test in December and had a good idea of ​​what to expect. “But I didn’t know anything about this,” she said, referring to the new format.

So she relied on a few home remedies before taking the exam. A light breakfast. One trick she has used to calm her mind: she counts her fingers by touching each one in sequence with her thumb. And a little prayer before she opened her MacBook for the test her math teacher taught her.

“To be honest? It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be,” she said. “I feel like I probably did better this time.”

Dana Goldstein reporting contributed.