Thinking Outside the Scantron

This week, I, along with millions of my fellow high school students, learned that the SATs had been canceled once again.

As a high school senior, I’ve gotten used to the massive disappointments that have come with 2020. And like students everywhere, I’m doing my best to stay motivated, even during the pandemic.

But this news was a serious gut punch — even more so because it could have been avoided.  The College Board, which oversees the SATs, has undermined our hard work with its failure to find creative ways for us to take this important test.

I wasn’t exactly looking forward to taking my SATs. Nonetheless, I signed up to take them at a local high school in March. But I soon changed my test date to May to participate in a rescheduled soccer game. That game and the May test were canceled due to COVID-19. I then registered for the August SAT, only to have that canceled because of the pandemic, too. I tried to sign up for the September test, but the closest slot was at a school nine hours away—on the other side of an active brush fire.

Determined to be a competitive college applicant, and filled with the renewed hope of the new year, I signed up for the October SAT at a neighboring county school. But that was canceled, too. I signed up for November, and then this week found out that it was—you guessed it, canceled. My last chance is December; I am currently scheduled for the test at the same school where I was supposed to take it back in March.

Cancellation after cancellation, I have kept studying, learning how to fill in the right ovals on the test page, poring over Greek and Latin etymology, and reviewing mathematical theorems. I’ve taken multiple full-length practice exams and have consistently scored in the range that will put me in play for my target schools.

But I’m not holding my breath. California’s case numbers are simply not decreasing quickly enough to allow schools to provide the tests in their traditional format. Even if I get to take the SAT, some of the schools I am applying to will already have made their decision.

Even if I get to take the SAT, some of the schools I am applying to will already have made their decision.

This blow is softened somewhat by the decision by most colleges –– including the University of California system –– to not require SAT scores.

But the College Board has failed to adapt to the times. There are so many ways it could rise to this moment: Offering outdoor SATs by using high school stadiums or basketball courts to sit students safely apart. Offering the test more often so they could have fewer people taking them at a time. Finding a way to offer the test online, which they did for the AP exams at the end of the 2020 school year. Finding ways to show that this educational non-profit cares about the students it purports to serve.

Instead, the College Board has left high school students across America to fend for themselves. The organization simply schedules tests, cancels them, and tells students to keep trying. Meanwhile, college applications are due starting in November. There is no more time for the class of 2021.

I am not suggesting that all colleges prohibit using SATs in admissions decisions. In fact, I hoped to gain an advantage in the admissions process with a strong score. With many of my extracurricular activities and most of soccer season canceled, that advantage would have been more important than ever. And we do need to have a wider discussion about the fairness of the test overall, as many studies have shown that it favors white and wealthy test takers. But that is not the issue I am raising here.

I am one of 3.7 million U.S. students who will graduate from high school this year. My fellow students from the class of 2021 are adjusting: We take classes online. We have soccer practice wearing masks. We hope for a prom. We go to virtual birthday parties and sit apart from each other in our backyards. Where we once had part-time jobs and freedom, we now have health regulations and TikTok. We have creatively adjusted to our new reality as well as we can.

We’ve done our part –– why hasn’t the College Board done theirs? The College Board must be held to the same standard that high school students are being held to: Adapt. Adjust. Be resilient. Don’t give up. Think outside the box –– or in this case, outside the tiny little ovals that we fill in on the way to college.

Libby Smith is a high school senior at New West Charter+ in Los Angeles, California.