SAT

You can totally self-prepare. You do not need expensive coaching classes. There are many free resources by College Board. They give you official practice questions. If you are disciplined and practice every week, you can get a great score on your own.

There is no limit to take the SAT exam. Applicants can take SAT as many times as they like. The colleges see only those scores which applicants wish to share with them. There is a provision of superscoring also on SAT, thus, improved scores can be submitted. In case the colleges require, applicants will have to share all their SAT scores with them. The score sharing policies may vary per university and their requirements. 

The new in the Digital SAT format is that:

• It is 46 minutes shorter than the previous edition and 2 hours 14 minutes long.
• Computer-adaptive where difficulty increases or decreases based on performance per section.
• SAT exam is now taken online on the Bluebook App on one's own device, or a borrowed device from College Board. 
• Reading and Writing is one section, rather than two different sections.
• Math's section permits applicants to use calculator for both its sub-sections.
• SAT exam scoe scale has come down to 1600 from 2400 initially.

No, SAT is not mandatorily required everywhere for admissions. Some universities require it mandatorily, however after COVID, a lot of universities have become test-optional, reinstated SAT score requirements or completely shut the use of SAT exam scores. Thus, if you are an international student and are applying for undergraduate admissions, then you must check if your university is SAT submission mandatory or test optional. 

The use of SAT is so important for admissions abroad because the skills it assesses for high school passouts show how they are ready for college admissions. Plus, the knowledge they gain is equally essential for universities to assess the readiness of applicants to attend college. Yes wherever SAT is mandatory, it is used for assessing applications for admissions.

There are multiple factors that help universities abroad make decisions about admissions for international students using SAT. Some of the key factors include:

• SAT score of the applicant versus the applicant pool score.
• Syncing SAT score with previous adacemic background.
• Based on SAT score assess applicant's analytical and problem solving skills (mentioned on SAT score report).
• Finally, if there is scope for offering financial aid, SAT scores may be one of the deciding factors.

Thus, these are the uses of SAT at an international level for offering admissions to applicants.

There are 63 countries which accept SAT scores for admission and use them to assess applicants. These countries are as follows: