The paper SAT is gone. Since the switch to the digital format, the test is taken on a laptop or tablet through the College Board's Bluebook app, runs just over two hours instead of three, and adapts to how your child performs as they go. If your reference point is the exam you or an older sibling sat, most of what you remember about pacing and strategy no longer applies.
Here's what actually changed, and what it means for how your child should prepare.
The three changes that matter
It's shorter. Two sections — Reading & Writing, then Math — at roughly 2 hours 14 minutes total. Reading passages are now short single paragraphs with one question each, so the old skill of managing a 700-word passage under time pressure has been replaced by rapid context-switching across dozens of small ones.
It's adaptive. Each section comes in two modules. How your child performs on the first module determines the difficulty — and the score ceiling — of the second. Early questions carry real weight, which changes pacing strategy: accuracy up front matters more than saving time for the end.
Calculators are always allowed. The entire Math section permits a calculator, and Bluebook has Desmos built in. Fluency with a graphing calculator is now a scoreable skill, not a crutch.
How prep should change
Practice materials written for the paper test now train the wrong instincts. Prep should happen inside Bluebook's official practice tests — there are several full adaptive tests available free — so the pacing, interface, and question style are familiar on test day. For most students the highest-leverage work is a diagnostic first, then targeted practice on the specific question types the diagnostic exposes, rather than volume for its own sake.
A realistic timeline: one diagnostic three to four months out, focused work in the weak areas, and full timed practice tests every two to three weeks in the final stretch.