This week in Houston many high school students will be taking the SAT. What makes this unique is that March 6th, 2019 will mark only the second time the College Board will offer school day SAT testing for high school students throughout the United States.
High school students were also offered the opportunity to test during the school day on October 10th, 2018. Up until now the SAT has traditionally only been offered on Saturdays at designated testing centers, which were not necessarily the student’s home school.
The Tenney School is opting to test On March 6th, but some schools and districts may choose to test on March 27th, April 9th, or April 23rd.
The opportunity for students to test at their school during the class day is advantageous to students in many ways as testing at their own school will lower the stress level, as students feel comfortable in a familiar environment, which will lead to more consistent results. Proctoring will be done by teachers that students already know and are comfortable with. The stress of finding the testing location, which many times is a location the student may not be familiar with, is done away with. Testing on a weekday also avoids weekend conflicts with students’ sports or club events along with the fact that it does not cut into family time.
In the past, it has been a struggle to get Juniors to schedule themselves for the SAT. With testing done on campus, school counselors and other school personnel can assist them with this. This will help jump start the process of testing and applying to colleges.
Another benefit is that many schools and districts are covering the cost of this test for their students. This will help lower the barriers for lower income families to apply to college.
Without a doubt the College Board’s decision to allow students to test during the school day benefits all students.