Beginning in March 2016, the SAT has a new format. Question types are different; scoring is different. Check out the following table for a side-by-side comparison of the old and new exams.
| Old SAT versus New SAT | |
| Old SAT | New SAT |
| Critical Reading: 67 questions, 70 minutes | Reading: 52 questions, 65 minutes |
| Essay: Mandatory, 25 minutes, respond to a prompt with your own point of view and evidence | Essay: Optional, 50 minutes, analyze writing techniques in a passage |
| Multiple-Choice Writing: 49 questions, 60 minutes | Multiple-Choice Writing and Language: 44 questions, 35 minutes |
| Mathematics: 54 questions, 70 minutes, divided into 3 sections Calculators allowed for all 3 sections. | Mathematics: 58 questions, 80 minutes, divided into 2 sections Calculators allowed for 1 section and not for the other. |
| Multiple-Choice and Grid-In Scoring: 1 point for each correct answer, 1/4-point deduction for each wrong multiple-choice answer. (No penalty for incorrect grid-in answers.) | Multiple-Choice and Grid-In Scoring: 1 point for each correct answer (and one question worth 4 points), no deduction for wrong answers |
| Multiple-Choice Format: 5 possible answers | Multiple-Choice Format: 4 possible answers |
| Score Types: 200–800 points each for Critical Reading, Writing, and Mathematics (total: 600–2400 points) | Score Types: 200–800 points for a combination of the Reading and Writing and Language sections. Another 200–800 points for Mathematics, for a total of 400–1600 for the entire exam, separate essay score, cross-test subscores for analysis in history and science, section subscores for various skills |
