By Evan Sun
Despite the coronavirus pandemic, the College Board decided to resume in-person SAT testing on September 26. Therefore, administrators, test centers, local health officials, and students have seen some changes, and they may continue to evolve as long as the virus is spreading.
The College Board mandated general social distancing and general hygiene guidelines for its test centers to ensure public health and safety. Additionally, students must affirm a series of statements before entering test centers. For example, if test-takers have been exposed to COVID-19 or have symptoms of the virus, they will be barred from test centers. Many of the statements are the same as those when one enters a doctor’s office.
In addition to the College Board’s guidelines, test centers must obey their local health restrictions. Currently, Chester County is in its least restrictive phase for mitigating the virus. Therefore, gatherings of under 250 people are permitted provided that all participants wear masks. The guidelines allow Great Valley High School to administer the SAT tests in-person.
Despite their measures, the College Board and local organizations cannot guarantee safety for any participants. Everyone, from administrators to students, must accept the inherent risks of SAT testing.
Students will contend with uncertainty in conjunction with risk. Perhaps the most obvious problem is that test center capacity is much lower due to social distancing requirements. Students will have difficulty taking the SAT on their preferred test center and date. For instance, in GVHS, it is necessary to register a couple months in advance in order to secure a spot on test day.
Another issue is that test centers could close at any time for safety reasons. Students could be on route to the test center and receive a notification that their test center has closed. Such unexpected occurrences could hurt test-takers, many of whom spend months preparing for a test that might not even occur.
Cognizant of such unexpected situations students may face, the College Board has made their refund policy more lenient and has removed certain fees. For instance, if participants are ill on test day, they can transfer to a later date with no additional charge or cancel their test and receive a full refund.
The change is quite generous. In 2020, students and families pay fees of between $49.50 and $64.50 to register of the SAT. In previous years, transferring to another test center cost around $30. Canceled tests could merit no refunds or approximately $10 depending on the situation. This year, everything, save for test registration itself, is free.
The College Board can help students to a degree, but the fact remains that COVID-19 is a constantly evolving situation. As of mid-November, COVID-19 cases are increasing above 150,000 cases per day. Along with those record-high statistics comes the possibility of a vaccine around the end of the year. Moving forward, organizations, communities, and students must be adaptable to unstable, uncertain situations.