Sudden SAT cancellation in Oakland leaves hundreds of students scrambling for test slots
Internet problems prompted test officials to call off the exam after students waited three hours for the SAT to start. Hundreds of students were left scrambling for test slots due to internet connection problems. The SAT, which is entirely online, is required to be taken at test sites in California, which has led many families to travel long distances to find test sites. The issue arose when students tried to access the exam, but the online system showed only a "loading" message. The proctors then returned their phones, potentially making them vulnerable to theft. Attendees were told their SAT fee would be refunded, but it was unclear when they would receive a new test slot. Lainie Motamedi, president of the San Francisco Unified School District, said many students still want to take the SAT, as the University of California and California State University systems don't consider student's scores as part of their admission process.
ที่ตีพิมพ์ : 4 อาทิตย์ที่แล้ว โดย Christian Leonard ใน Health
Hundreds of students who had come to Oakland to take the SAT on Saturday were told — after hours of waiting in the test room — that the exam was canceled due to internet connection problems.
Some attendees estimated that 2,000 students had come to the Marriott Hotel in downtown Oakland to take the college admission exam. Though the SAT is entirely online, students are required to take it at test sites. But a shortage of those sites throughout California has forced many families to travel long distances to exam sites — if they can find one with open slots.
Lainie Motamedi, the president of the board of the San Francisco Unified School District, said she was excited to snag a last-minute spot for Saturday’s SAT for her son, an 11th-grader. They even reserved a room at the Marriott so he could be in the exam room at the test’s scheduled start time of 7:45 a.m.
The problems started immediately, said Greyson Jones, an 11th-grade student from Half Moon Bay. The students tried to access the exam, but the online system showed only a “loading” message. Test officials checked repeatedly, but said only that they were working on an issue with the Wi-Fi.
But the students couldn’t leave yet. The proctors had collected their phones, and when they realized how long it would take to return them one by one, placed all the devices on a table for students to find theirs, a process that took some of them nearly an hour, potentially making the phones vulnerable to theft.
Attendees were told that their SAT fee would be refunded, said Eunice Charles, who drove her 11th-grade son from El Sobrante to take the exam. But it wasn’t immediately clear whether or when they would receive a new test slot.
Charles said her son doesn’t necessarily need to take the SAT, as the University of California and California State University systems don’t consider students’ scores as part of their admission process. Some other colleges have made admission exams optional. But many students in California still want to take it, Charles said.
Motamedi, the SFUSD president, said the next SAT date she could find within 100 miles of San Francisco was an October test in Fairfield. But she’s reluctant to sign her son up for the slot, because he’ll already have to deal with college applications in the fall.