“Right now, public health officials have made it clear it’s not safe to gather students in one place… As such, we won’t be able to administer the SAT and SAT Subject Tests as planned on June 6th, 2020,” stated a letter from the College Board on Wednesday afternoon. 

Rather than risking fairness, accuracy, and public health, the College Board should cancel standardized testing for the class of 2021.

This email hardly came as a shock; students had received the same cancellation email for the March and May SATs. This time, though, the cancellation has weightier ramifications. The next SAT is scheduled to take place on August 29th, which means that most students’ first SAT score would not be reported until mid-October. That would mean that most students would only have one reportable score for traditional early decision deadlines. Additionally, there would be no logical date to take SAT Subject Tests.

As it stands right now, students in the class of 2021 will have limited opportunity to take the SAT and SAT Subject Tests next fall. Considering further cancellations may be necessary due to the COVID-19 pandemic, students may not be able to take the test in person at all. 

A crowded event like the SAT should be the last type of event to take place right now. In their email, the College Board stated that “in the unlikely event that schools don’t reopen this fall, the College Board will provide a digital SAT for home use… we would ensure that at-home SAT testing is simple; secure and fair; accessible to all; and valid for use in college admissions.”

The only viable option listed above is the plan currently in place: available SATs and SAT Subject Tests held in August, September, and October. If this option is not permitted by the government, which it certainly could be, then there are no suitable replacements for the traditional SAT process. 

Students are typically given the opportunity to take the SAT up to six times in their junior Spring and senior Fall. This year, that number will be reduced to at least three. Given this extreme and rapidly changing alteration in testing circumstances, it would be highly unfair for colleges to evaluate students’ test results in a traditional manner. Uncertainty about when they will test and nervousness about the augmented importance of each test could drastically impact students’ mental approach to tests. Even in a best case scenario for the College Board, SAT results should be taken with a grain of salt this year. One could argue that the same could be said for any year. 

As stated earlier, the SAT will administer a digital test in the event that tests cannot be taken at a central testing location. This would be nothing short of a catastrophe. Considering the rampant cheating that already takes place, who could honestly expect the Aunt Becky’s of the world not to take advantage of home testing. Even if the College Board administers the test through Zoom or WebX, students will find ways to exploit the system. In some sense, the cheating that already takes place undermines the foundation of the standardized testing system.

Rumors have also circulated that colleges and universities will accept PSAT scores in lieu of fair SAT results. This option is a logical next step, but fails to consider that many students intentionally take the PSAT without studying to better understand their testing weaknesses. 

Ultimately, all colleges and universities should join schools like Tufts and Williams, which have already gone test-optional for the class of 2021. There is no viable way to test current juniors fairly and simply; anything that the College Board creates will be used more to protect their undeserved importance than to accurately assess students.