The College Board announced this morning that the June 2020 SAT date has been cancelled. This cancellation has caused panic among many rising seniors and high school students who were depending on the early summer standardized tests to prepare for their college applications and school lists. Colleges and universities across the country have put forth exam-optional policies in light of the unprecedented situation, which means that students are not required to submit their standardized test scores. Others, however, like Yale University, have resisted such policy changes, claiming that they “expect there will be sufficient opportunities for all applicants to complete [standardized testing] before the next admissions deadlines.”

The College Board and the ACT are indeed attempting to provide such opportunities. College Board announced on Wednesday morning that they plan to offer an online version of the SAT should schools remain closed through the fall, in addition to the 3 million AP exams that will be distributed digitally: “As we’re doing with at-home Advanced Placement (AP) exams, we would ensure that at-home SAT testing is simple, secure and fair, accessible to all, and valid for use in college admissions.”

For students signed up for the June SATs, they will have early access to registration for August, September and October dates. Students will be able to transfer their registrations, free of charge. Those who have yet to take any SAT will also be given priority for registering for test centers and possibly, test dates.

Many questions accompany this announcement: How will exams be proctored? Will they be evaluated similarly to the exams that students have taken at official testing centers? Should students sign up for these online exams and if so, how can they prepare to take them? How will lower-income students with no access to the internet sit for these exams? Because these changes are unprecedented, the College Board will seek to standardize and clarify these opportunities for students in the coming weeks and months. The transition to online exams also reveals the College Board’s inherent need to profit from the administration of standardized testing. Whether the transition to online testing will prove to be fair or successful will be determined in the upcoming months.

If the College Board is going through with the administration of tests in the upcoming months, a suggestion to take into consideration is to partner with local venues and stadiums to administer tests in-person without compromising the need for social distancing.

source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/christopherrim/2020/04/15/how-will-the-online-sat-impact-college-admissions/?ss=education#5191dfd485c7