Pencils down, students. The SAT college exam is going paperless and online-only

It's the end of an era for the SAT.

On Dec. 2, students taking the standardized college admissions exam will be the last to take the test with pencil and paper. Going forward, the SAT will only be offered in a digital format, via an app.

"Students are now doing more of their learning and testing digitally, and the SAT shouldn’t be the exception," said Holly Stepp, a spokesperson for the College Board, maker of the SAT.

The move follows a successful pilot program and positive student feedback. Stepp said surveyed students found the new digital format was less stressful.

"We’re now taking full advantage of what delivering an assessment digitally makes possible," Stepp said. "A test that is easier to take, easier to give, more secure and more relevant."

Students must still take the SAT in an official testing center with proctors that monitor the test takers. However, the new app-based test will allow students to use their own laptops or tablets. The College Board will also provide devices to students who either don't have one or don't want to use their own.

The app is called "Bluebook," and administers said the SAT test it offers also is designed to be "adaptive." That means the app will track how students perform on the first module of questions to determine if the test should give the student an easier or harder set of questions in the second module. Once fully digital, the test will also be an hour shorter in duration.

The app, the College Board said, also ensures students won't lose time or work if their computer loses power or internet connection.

"I think it's a good change," said Brian Leaf, an SAT prep teacher in Massachusetts and author of 10 SAT and ACT prep books. "I think it will be a better, more efficient test, but time will tell."

Leaf said students he works with privately and through a UMass summer program were not concerned about the shift from paper to digital.

"Students aren't thinking about the specifics of the SAT until the time comes," Leaf explained. "So some of the students who are taking it digitally have barely even processed that their predecessors were taking it on paper."

Leaf said the biggest shift will be in his own work flow. In the past, the practice tests he used were all paper-based. Going forward, he'll make sure at least half his practice exams will be digital.

But critics of the College Board's decision expressed worries about reducing the length of the test. Akil Bello, senior director at FairTest, an advocacy group focused on fairness in standardized testing scores, said that with fewer questions, wrong answers will have a greater impact on a student's overall score.

Bello also worried the SAT's new digital format will not address historic performance gaps between racial groups.

"Standardized tests will never be a tool of fairness or equity," Bello said. "That's not in their DNA."

The College Board, however, said it stands by the utility of all its standardized tests. On its website, officials state it "connects students to college success and opportunity," adding it was founded in 1900 with a mission to expand access to higher education.

The SAT's digital-only rollout comes as more colleges and universities adopt test-optional admissions policies. About 90% of universities in the U.S. are test optional, according to FairTest, and the numbers reflect a significant increase since the pandemic. In 2019, just over half of schools had such policies.

Still, about 1.9 million students sat for the standardized test last school year.