Son is going to be taking ACT and I signed him up for the digital version without giving it a second thought, the PSAT was digital, his state sponsored SAT was digital, his APs are digital, school tests are digital, etc. However I recently was talking to some other parents who said a tutoring service they used strongly advised against the digital version. The reasoning has merit (copying math problems to scratch paper increases chance for error and takes time, can’t draw on science charts and graphs, reading/scrolling on a screen) but given I’d now need to pay the huge change test fee I wanted to see if others who’ve done the digital vs. paper have found that to be a real concern, especially since this age group has already become used to digital testing.
Wouldn’t the same concerns apply to the PSAT, SAT, AP tests? If so, did your student find such concerns to be a problem on those tests?
A couple of the larger test prep companies, including Applerouth and Compass prep, recommend sticking with ACT paper for now, and cite some of the reasons you have. You can google their recommendations and read their articles to help you/your D decide what to do.
Sharing our experience. D26 took the full digital version of the ACT spring of junior year for state mandated testing (IL switched from SAT to ACT mid-year). Her scores from the ACT did not seem to reflect our knowledge of her abilities, particularly English & Reading. D26 is a voracious reader but her reading is mostly done using physical media. We had her retake using the paper version and her English & Reading scores increased dramatically, from sort of high 20s on the digital version to a 36 & 35, respectively. Probably some contribution from a bit more prepping and fewer sections (no Science or Writing) but for her, I think the ability to see things in a form she’s used to, plus able to mark on the paper directly was a clear positive.
Hi,
This is a really common concern right now with the shift to digital testing, and you’re definitely not alone in weighing the pros and cons.
From what I’ve seen (and from students I know who’ve taken both formats), the “paper vs digital” impact is a bit more nuanced than it first seems.
A few real-world observations:
1. Comfort level matters more than format preference
Even though students are used to digital screens, standardized testing is a slightly different experience. It’s more structured, timed pressure, and less flexible than school-based digital tests. Some students do find paper feels more “natural” for long problem-solving sections.
2. Math scratch work is the biggest adjustment
You’re right that copying problems over can introduce small errors. That said, most students adapt fairly quickly with practice. It becomes more about developing a consistent scratch method rather than the format itself being a disadvantage.
3. Reading sections
Some students prefer paper because they can physically track lines and annotate more freely. Others actually prefer digital because scrolling lets them focus on one passage at a time. This tends to be very individual.
4. Science/graphs
This is usually less of an issue than expected. Digital tools often allow zooming or interaction, but again it comes down to familiarity.
5. The key factor: practice in the same format
The biggest predictor I’ve seen of success isn’t digital vs paper — it’s whether the student has done enough full-length practice tests in the exact format they’ll use on test day.
So is it worth changing?
If your son is already comfortable with digital school testing (SAT, PSAT, APs), I personally wouldn’t rush to switch unless:
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he strongly prefers paper after trying both
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or practice tests show a clear performance drop in digital format
Otherwise, consistency across his testing experience may actually be an advantage.
Hope that helps and good luck to him on the ACT!
Your son is already in the strongest position for this decision, because his PSAT, SAT, and AP tests were digital. That matters more than a general warning about digital testing, and it is the part I would weigh first before paying a change fee.
The tutoring warning is not wrong about the mechanics, but it is incomplete. Copying a math problem to scratch paper does add a step, and scrolling through a reading passage feels different from flipping a page. What the warning leaves out is that those costs shrink fast with one specific kind of practice, and they do not affect every section equally.
A practical way to test it in about 3 hours, before you decide on a change:
1. Have him take one timed section in each format, ideally Math and English, since those show the scratch paper and scrolling effects most clearly. Use the same difficulty level and similar timing conditions, and score them by section, not just by total.
2. For Math, watch how he lays out work. A useful habit on digital is to write the question number, then only the key numbers and the operation, in a straight column, rather than copying the whole problem. If his errors come from copying, that column method usually cuts them in one or two practice sets.
3. For Reading, watch whether he loses his place or loses time. Some students do better digitally because only one passage is on screen at a time. Others do better on paper because they can see the whole passage and underline freely. That split is individual, which is why a blanket rule about digital does not fit every student.
4. Check Science separately if he will take it. Graphs are the usual worry, but on a screen he can zoom in, and the questions still ask for the same skill: find the trend, compare two figures, and ignore extra detail. If Science is the section that drops in the digital practice, that is a stronger reason to consider paper than a general feeling about screens.
My own frame for the fee question is simple. Pay the change fee only if the practice comparison shows a clear, repeatable gap, for example the same section is 3 or more points lower digitally on two timed tries, or he consistently runs out of time in digital Math while finishing comfortably on paper. A single uncomfortable practice, or advice from another family whose student had a different weak section, is not enough evidence to spend that fee.
One more check that parents often miss: confirm which test centers near you actually offer paper, and how far the travel and start time change his morning. A tired student in a paper test he had to travel an hour to reach can easily lose more points than the format itself would have cost.
Given what you described, digital is not unadvised for him by default. It is unadvised only if his own timed practice says so, section by section.
Thanks to @skieurope for reopening as I wanted to post an update for future parents weighing the paper vs digital decision.
Update: Coming back to update for future parents who might search for the digital ACT and want additional perspective FWIW. Recall I signed him up digitally without even considering paper because for his class year at his school everything they had taken had already gone digital (PSAT/NMSQT, state sponsored school day SAT, and APs) however I had been advised (and confirmed when looking further into it) that tutors still largely suggest paper. I considered changing to paper but the change fee was an additional cost and by then spots were harder to find so he ended up taking it digitally in June, but then I signed him up for July and September on paper. His June digital ACT was his best score, by a lot. I am sure the advice for paper does still suit (the merit for it is sound) some best, but I can say I would have regretted changing it to paper. The time to copy problems to scratch paper was not more than the time to bubble so he got further in math, and he felt like reading on the screen it was actually easier to see the punctuation he sometimes had to look closer for on paper (periods, commas, semicolons, colons).