|  Photograph by Robert Nickelsberg / Getty The contributing writer Eren Orbey wrote about how the pandemic forced colleges to experiment with test-optional admissions. I spoke with him about the College Board’s new digital SAT. The SAT feels like such an integral part of the college-admissions process. But it’s also partially a holdover from another time, something that has evolved as times have changed. What’s your sense of its importance as a factor in college admissions today? I was surprised, in my reporting, how quickly executives from the College Board were willing to say that the test is lower-stakes, as they put it in their press release. They really do seem to be advertising the digital SAT as a different kind of tool, focussing on its power to help certain students stand out rather than on its potential threat to students who don’t score well. But there’s still so much pressure on the other side, from high-school administrators and test-prep tutors and others. I think the SAT has become a kind of cultural relic with a lot of weight and meaning that is perhaps separate from what the College Board is actually intending. To me, the most interesting question is whether the messaging from the College Board and from test-optional universities will affect the way kids look at the test. Because there are so many new doubts now, like, If I don’t submit an SAT score, are colleges going to assume that I did poorly, or will they assume I didn’t take it and directed attention elsewhere? There isn’t a lot of consensus. That has created a different kind of panic. Right, this seems to leave schools in a tricky position—some applicants will have scores and some won’t, but their applications should be considered equally. How should students be balancing whether or not to take the test? My sense is that students who are trying to get into selective schools are still feeling pressure to take the test. I was struck by the sense that even a lower-stakes SAT might not feel lower-stakes to students who are trying to figure out how to put their best foot forward in college admissions. It’s kind of a mess, and I think the clearest way to reduce stress for students would be to have a consistent rule. The real problem seems to be the scarcity of opportunity for higher-education success. Across top schools, there’s so much interest and so few spots, and it tends to seem like a cutthroat win-or-lose, net-zero game. I think that is really sad. The true tragedy of the situation is that there should be more accessible and higher-quality educational opportunities available to students who seek them, and there should be fair, fulfilling, and dignified professional opportunities for students who don’t go to four-year colleges. Read the full interview to find out what it was like to take the digital SAT, and how high-school students really feel about it. | 
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