What Was The Hardest Digital SAT? An Analysis of the First 20 Months
October 4, 2025 generated more negative student reactions than any other digital SAT administration we've tracked. In our analysis of feedback from 13 administrations, October generated the most consistently negative reactions. High-scoring students reported difficulty completing sections, and many seniors registered for November retests despite planning for October to be their final attempt.
When the College Board launched the digital SAT in March 2024, it promised a streamlined, adaptive testing experience. What followed was twenty months of volatile difficulty perceptions, technical problems, and a testing landscape where students' emotional reactions swung from shock to frustration to cautious adaptation and sometimes back to frustration again.
This analysis examines those 13 U.S. digital SAT administrations from March 2024 through October 2025, drawing on discussions with our students and AI-facilitated analysis of online sentiment to understand how students experienced this transition—and what made October stand out.
Caveat: Who This Analysis Represents
Before diving into the data, it's essential to understand whose voices dominate this analysis.
The students represented here skew heavily toward above-average test-takers. Our tutoring practice serves college-focused students with higher-than-average targets. Online forum participants tend to be highly motivated students scoring in higher percentiles.
This means our analysis primarily reflects students scoring roughly 1200+ on practice tests, many targeting 1400+, and some aiming for 1500+. These students perform well on Module 1, which routes them into the hardest adaptive Module 2 content. Average or below-average test-takers receive easier Module 2 questions and likely had very different experiences not completely captured in our data sources.
About Our Difficulty Ratings
Throughout this article, you'll see difficulty ratings on a 1-5 scale for each test administration. These ratings represent student perception of difficulty rather than objective measurements of test difficulty.
We developed these ratings by analyzing thousands of data points across multiple sources: Reddit r/SAT discussion threads, test preparation company student surveys, tutoring debrief sessions, and direct feedback from our students and families. When students repeatedly used terms like "brutal," "massacre," or "ran out of time" in concentrated patterns, those administrations received higher ratings. When discussions focused on "manageable" difficulty or "better than expected" sentiment, ratings decreased accordingly.
Our 1-5 Scale:
1 – Very Easy: Confidence and comfortable completion. Students report tests feeling "easier than practice tests."
2 – Easy: Manageable difficulty with time to spare. Described as "fair and straightforward."
3 – Moderate: Challenging but reasonable; students feel adequately tested. Comments include "hard but doable."
4 – Difficult: Significant challenge; many struggle with completion or confidence. Common feedback: "Ran out of time," "Harder than expected."
5 – Very Difficult: Overwhelming difficulty; widespread reports of extreme challenge. Students describe tests as "Brutal," "Massacre," "Nothing like practice."
These ratings synthesize perception across diverse student populations, but individual experiences varied significantly based on preparation quality, personal strengths, scoring level, and which specific questions appeared on adaptive modules.
Perceived Difficulty vs. Scoring Difficulty
The most important thing to understand: a harder test does not make it harder to achieve a high score.
The College Board uses equating to ensure scores are comparable across administrations. When a test is harder, the curve adjusts—fewer correct answers are needed for the same scaled score. Our difficulty ratings measure student experience (psychological stress, time pressure, confidence), not actual scoring difficulty. A 5/5 rating means students felt overwhelmed, not that achieving a 1500 was objectively harder than on a 2.5/5 test.
March 9, 2024: The Infamous First Administration
Overall Difficulty: 4.5/5 | Math: 4.5/5 | Reading/Writing: 4/5
March 9, 2024 didn't just introduce the digital SAT. It became instantly infamous. This first U.S. administration created a preparation gap that would influence the entire testing year.
The shock was palpable across online forums. Students who had scored 1540-1600 on practice tests reported expecting scores below 1400 on the actual exam. "I got 1600 on my last practice but the actual exam HUMBLED me," one Reddit user wrote, a sentiment that appeared in variations across hundreds of comments. Our students echoed this disbelief—several high scorers left their testing centers visibly shaken. The r/SAT discussion thread filled with students in genuine distress. One pleaded for "a massive curve so it doesn't screw so many students over." Another wrote simply: "I studied so hard and it amounted to nothing."
What created this intensity? Multiple factors converged. The College Board's limited official practice materials didn't prepare students for Module 2's difficulty level. Math Module 2 featured multi-step problems requiring creativity and unusual problem-solving approaches far beyond straightforward practice test questions. Reading passages included dense scientific and historical texts that demanded sophisticated inference skills under severe time constraints.
The March test established patterns that would persist throughout 2024 and into 2025. Students discovered that Module 2 represented a far steeper difficulty increase than practice materials suggested. Time pressure became intense in ways that static practice environments couldn't replicate. The adaptive algorithm seemed calibrated to challenge even the strongest students in ways that felt qualitatively different from the paper SAT or official practice tests.
One student captured the collective sentiment: "I was confident going in. I've been scoring 1550+ consistently. But Module 2 Math and Reading were just different. Harder in ways I wasn't prepared for." This experience of preparation failure despite diligent work would become a recurring theme throughout the digital SAT's first year.
May 4, 2024: The Pattern Solidifies
Overall Difficulty: 4/5 | Math: 4.5/5 | Reading/Writing: 3.5/5
May 2024 confirmed that March wasn't an anomaly. Students who had taken March 2024, adjusted their preparation, and returned in May found themselves facing similar challenges. The test maintained high difficulty, particularly in Math Module 2, which many students described as "brutal."
The psychological impact deepened. Our students and others online realized they couldn't simply attribute March's difficulty to first-administration jitters or preparation gaps. The digital SAT was consistently harder than practice materials suggested, particularly for high-performing students routing into the most difficult adaptive content.
"I thought March was hard because it was new," one student wrote. "But May was just as challenging. These tests are genuinely harder than what we're practicing with." This realization created a crisis of confidence across test preparation communities. If official materials didn't match actual test difficulty, how could students adequately prepare?
Math Module 2 continued featuring multi-step problems requiring algebraic manipulation, geometric visualization, and data interpretation combined in complex ways. Reading passages maintained their density and inference requirements. Time pressure remained severe, with many students reporting they couldn't complete all questions despite strong performance on practice tests where they regularly finished with time to spare.
June 1, 2024: A Turning Point
Overall Difficulty: 2.5/5 | Math: 3/5 | Reading/Writing: 2.5/5
June 2024 offered something different: a test that felt more aligned with expectations. Students who had experienced March and May's intensity found June "manageable" and "more like practice tests." The r/SAT discussion thread showed notably less distress, with many students reporting confidence rather than devastation.
What changed? The test itself may have been easier, or students' expectations had finally calibrated to digital SAT reality. After two administrations of unexpectedly high difficulty, many students prepared more intensively, sought additional resources beyond official materials, and mentally prepared for worst-case scenarios. When June arrived with more moderate difficulty, it felt like relief rather than appropriate challenge.
"I was ready for hell," one student wrote, "and got something reasonable instead." This psychological shift was significant. Students learned that the digital SAT could vary in difficulty, that not every administration would match March and May's intensity, and that managing expectations mattered as much as content mastery.
June also demonstrated that when the test matched preparation materials more closely, student confidence returned. The time pressure eased, Module 2 felt challenging but fair, and students left testing centers feeling they'd been tested on material they'd studied rather than surprised by unexpected difficulty.
August 24, 2024: Back to High Difficulty
Overall Difficulty: 4.5/5 | Math: 4.5/5 | Reading/Writing: 4/5
August 2024 proved that June's moderation wasn't the new normal. This administration generated some of the most intense negative feedback of the entire year, with students describing it as one of the most challenging digital SATs they'd encountered.
Reading/Writing Module 2 became particularly notorious—students reported approximately ten inference questions in a row, requiring multiple careful readings to distinguish between plausible answer choices. The vocabulary level increased beyond typical practice test standards. Time pressure became extreme, with many high-performing students unable to complete all questions despite strong preparation.
Math Module 2 continued the pattern established in March and May: complex multi-step problems, unusual problem-solving approaches, and questions that combined multiple concepts in ways that practice tests rarely did. One student wrote: "I've done every official practice test multiple times. Nothing prepared me for what August delivered in Module 2."
October 5, 2024: Sustained Difficulty and Score Uncertainty
Overall Difficulty: 4/5 | Math: 4.5/5 | Reading/Writing: 4/5
October 2024 maintained August's high difficulty. Math Module 2 featured complex geometry, challenging algebra, and data interpretation questions that required more time than available. One of our students described attempting Module 2's final questions while "basically panicking because I knew I'd never finish." The time pressure forced strategic triage that many students found psychologically overwhelming.
Reading passages maintained their density and complexity. Vocabulary continued challenging students who had mastered standard SAT word lists. Many students left testing centers unsure how they had performed, with some reporting they couldn't gauge whether they'd scored in the 1300s or 1500s.
November 2, 2024: Return to Moderation
Overall Difficulty: 2.5/5 | Math: 3/5 | Reading/Writing: 2.5/5
November 2024 mirrored June's more manageable experience. Students reported difficulty that felt aligned with preparation materials and content that tested skills without the extreme spikes that characterized August and October.
After October's gauntlet, Reddit responses showed notable relief. Many comments noted the exam felt "more aligned with the practice tests" and that they were not blindsided by any section. While the test introduced unique challenges, particularly in Math Module 2 and some tougher vocabulary, the overall experience was manageable. Students who had struggled in October posted happy updates, describing November as "fair and straightforward."
Students who had endured October's intensity and immediately registered for November retests often found themselves pleasantly surprised. The pattern became clearer: the digital SAT alternated between high-difficulty administrations and moderate ones that felt fair and aligned with expectations.
December 7, 2024: Year-End Stability
Overall Difficulty: 3/5 | Math: 3.5/5 | Reading/Writing: 2.5/5
December closed 2024 with moderate difficulty. The test maintained the digital SAT's characteristic Module 2 difficulty increase but without the extreme spikes that defined the year's most challenging administrations.
Students described December as "hard but fair." Reading/Writing modules were largely manageable with standard passage topics, though some challenging vocabulary appeared (words like "ameliorate" and "harbinger"). Math featured complex algebra and geometry like polynomial factors and triangle ratio problems, without the creative leaps that had characterized March, August, and October. Time pressure existed in Math Module 2, with several students leaving the last one or two questions blank, but the pacing didn't force the rushed triage of the year's hardest tests.
March 8, 2025: Technical Problems Compound Difficulty
Overall Difficulty: 3.5/5 | Math: 4/5 | Reading/Writing: 3.5/5
March 2025 introduced a new variable: significant technical issues that compounded content difficulty. Students reported platform glitches, timer problems, and technical disruptions that created additional stress beyond the test's inherent challenge.
The content itself would have rated as moderately difficult—similar to December 2024—but technical problems elevated the experience to more intense difficulty. Students dealing with unexpected platform behavior while trying to maintain focus and strategy found the combination overwhelming in ways that content difficulty alone wouldn't have been.
"The test was hard but manageable," one student wrote, "until my timer froze and I lost track of where I was in the section. That completely threw off my rhythm." These technical disruptions occurred sporadically, affecting some students severely while others experienced minor issues. This inconsistency created additional stress, as students couldn't know whether they'd encounter technical problems until they were already testing.
May 3, 2025: Significant Difficulty Returns
Overall Difficulty: 4.5/5 | Math: 4.5/5 | Reading/Writing: 4/5
May 2025 delivered one of the year's most difficult administrations, matching March 2024's infamous intensity. Students who had hoped the digital SAT was stabilizing toward moderate difficulty found themselves facing a test that rivaled the first year's hardest administrations.
Math Module 2 featured the familiar pattern of complex multi-step problems, unusual approaches, and severe time pressure. But May 2025 seemed to intensify these elements even further. Students reported questions requiring algebraic creativity, geometric visualization, and data interpretation at levels that exceeded even careful preparation.
Reading/Writing Module 2 generated particularly intense feedback. Vocabulary words appeared that our students hadn't encountered in any practice materials. Passages required multiple readings to comprehend. Inference questions demanded distinctions between answer choices that all seemed plausible. The combination created what students described as "the hardest Reading/Writing section I've ever taken."
June 7, 2025: Return to Moderate Difficulty
Overall Difficulty: 3/5 | Math: 3.5/5 | Reading/Writing: 3/5
June 2025 demonstrated the digital SAT's volatility by following May's high difficulty with more moderate challenge. Students expecting May-level intensity found themselves facing a test that felt reasonable and aligned with preparation materials.
Online discussions indicated relief after May's brutality. Students noted the exam was difficult in expected ways—"the second modules in both sections were noticeably harder," with lots of inference questions in Reading and multi-step problems in Math—but there was no new "gotcha" beyond the known pattern.
The test reinforced the standard digital SAT playbook (manageable Module 1, tough Module 2) without exceeding it. The digital SAT continued to alternate unpredictably between high-difficulty and moderate administrations.
August 23, 2025: Above Average Difficulty with Severe Time Pressure
Overall Difficulty: 3.5/5 | Math: 3.5/5 | Reading/Writing: 3/5
August 2025 rated as above-average difficulty with intensified time pressure. The content wasn't as challenging as May 2025 or the hardest 2024 administrations, but the pacing requirements created significant stress.
Students reported the familiar pattern: an approachable Module 1 followed by a challenging Module 2. Reading/Writing Module 2 ramped up difficulty with heavier inference-based questions and obscure vocabulary. Math Module 1 felt straightforward, but Module 2 required multi-step reasoning with quadratic functions, data analysis, and layered geometry problems.
Time pressure dominated student feedback. Many reported breezing through Module 1 but running out of time in Module 2, particularly in Math where they had to leave questions blank or rush through final problems. The time pressure felt like a distinct challenge beyond content difficulty, testing speed as much as skill.
September 13, 2025: Moderate and Strategic
Overall Difficulty: 2.5/5 | Math: 3/5 | Reading/Writing: 2.5/5
September offered difficulty that felt aligned with expectations while still requiring "endurance and strategy." The test followed the classic adaptive pattern with manageable Module 1 sections and challenging Module 2 content that felt within the expected range.
Students reported the familiar structure: the first Reading/Writing module was approachable, while the second demanded more focus with numerous inference questions and tricky vocabulary. An interesting addition was greater emphasis on charts and graphs in Reading passages—students had to interpret more data within passages, almost blending an ACT Science element into the test.
Math Module 2 featured "layered reasoning" with quadratic functions, data interpretation, and complex geometry. Students who had taken August mentioned this test felt similar or slightly easier. Time management remained crucial, with the typical "finish Module 1, struggle in Module 2" pattern appearing again.
September represented competent execution of the digital SAT concept: challenging but fair, testing skills through adaptive difficulty without the extreme spikes that characterized the hardest administrations.
October 4, 2025: The Hardest Digital SAT
Overall Difficulty: 5/5 | Math: 5/5 | Reading/Writing: 5/5
October 4, 2025 delivered what multiple tutoring professionals and students called "the hardest exam they had encountered" in the digital era. This administration generated overwhelmingly negative feedback across all sources, with student reactions uniformly negative and shocked.
Reading/Writing Module 2 was described as "the most insane section ever"—featuring unusually long and dense passages with heavy scientific and technical content, extremely difficult vocabulary, and questions that went beyond typical SAT scope. Many top students admitted to guessing on 5-7 questions in that module, something that almost never happened to them before. Even seasoned tutors were taken aback by the reading difficulty, underscoring the exceptional nature of this administration.
Math Module 2's difficulty beyond question 17 represented a substantial increase that forced even typically-fast students to rush or skip final questions. After a manageable Module 1, Module 2 questions ramped up to near-competition-math level by the end. The last five questions were exceptionally difficult—complex algebra and geometry problems that students had no time to finish. Even tutoring professionals found Module 2 challenging, suggesting not merely perceived difficulty but an objective increase.
The psychological impact was severe. Seniors taking their last SAT before college application deadlines experienced particular distress. Many immediately registered for November retests despite intending October to be their final attempt, a tangible measure of how defeated students felt. Virtually every commenter—including many who had scored 1500+ before—found this test significantly harder than anything prior. Students worried their scores could range anywhere from 1200 to 1550, unable to gauge performance at all.
Comparisons confirmed the severity: students noted they thought August was bad, September was easier, but October was far worse than both. Multiple users explicitly called it "the hardest exam I've ever taken."
October 2025 represented the extreme end of digital SAT difficulty. Whether this reflected intentional calibration or variability in test construction, it created significant stress for students whose college applications depended on this administration.
Conclusion: The First Twenty Months
These first 20 months of the digital SAT tell a story of disruption, adaptation, challenge, and resilience. Students who experienced March 2024's initial adjustment, May 2025's difficulty spike, and October 2025's record-breaking challenge will carry those experiences forward. Both the frustration of feeling underprepared despite extensive work and the confidence that comes from navigating genuine difficulty.
The volatility data tells a clear story. Difficulty ratings ranging from 2.5/5 to 5/5 across administrations reveal an assessment still finding its equilibrium. Tests that felt moderate alternated with very difficult administrations, creating unpredictability that students found stressful. Whether College Board views this variability as intentional or as something to smooth out remains unclear. What's certain is that students experienced these swings directly, their emotional responses documented across thousands of Reddit posts, tutoring debriefs, and forum discussions.
As we look toward 2026 and beyond, key questions remain. Will College Board provide practice materials that better match test difficulty? Will the technical platform prove consistently stable? Will difficulty volatility decrease as adaptive algorithms mature? Will students continue adapting with ever-more-sophisticated strategies?
For now, the digital SAT remains what these 20 months revealed: a challenging, sometimes unpredictable, often frustrating but ultimately navigable assessment. Students learned that preparation matters but test-day conditions matter too. That Module 2 will likely be harder but panicking makes it worse. That official materials provide a foundation but community knowledge fills important gaps. That perceived difficulty doesn't always match actual scores but the anxiety feels real regardless.
The March 2024 students who found the experience so challenging couldn't have imagined they were among the first to navigate a significant transition. The October 2025 students who immediately registered for November retests probably felt they'd encountered the most difficult version possible. Both groups survived, learned, adapted, and shared their experiences, creating the collective knowledge that helps future students navigate whatever the digital SAT delivers next.