College Board cancels June 6 SAT test, announces plans for make-ups

The College Board announced Wednesday that the June 6 SAT has been canceled and mapped out its plans to ensure that high school juniors will have time to take the test before college applications are due.

Posted 7:01 p.m. Apr 15, 2020 — Updated 7:15 p.m. Apr 15, 2020

Sarah Lindenfeld Hall

, Go Ask Mom editor

The College Board announced Wednesday that the June 6 SAT has been canceled and mapped out its plans for high school juniors to take the test before college applications are due in the fall and winter.

“We know students and educators are worried about how the coronavirus may disrupt the college admissions process, and we want to do all we can to help alleviate that anxiety during this very demanding time,” said College Board CEO David Coleman in a press release. “Our first principle with the SAT and all our work must be to keep families and students safe. The second principle is to make the SAT as widely available as possible for students who wish to test, regardless of the economic or public health circumstances.”

The tests are typically administered at schools, but many schools are closed through May and, in some cases, for the rest of the academic year. It's not clear when students would be able to gather in a large group to take the college admissions test.

Here are the options for test takers, according to the College Board's press release:

1. If it’s safe from a public health standpoint, there will be weekend SAT administrations every month through the end of the calendar year, beginning in August. This includes a new administration in September and the previously scheduled tests on August 29, October 3, November 7, and December 5.

2. To replace canceled SAT School Day administrations this spring, the College Board will offer the SAT in schools this fall. Almost all of College Board state partners and many of its district partners have expressed interest in providing SAT administrations during the school day later this fall.

3. In the "unlikely" event that schools do not reopen this fall, the College Board will provide a digital SAT for home use, much as the organization is delivering digital exams for three million Advanced Placement students this spring. As with at-home AP Exams, the College Board would ensure that at-home SAT testing is simple; secure and fair; accessible to all; and valid for use in college admissions. Like the pencil-and-paper test, a digital, remote version of the SAT would measure what students are learning in school and what they need to know to be successful in college. The digital, at-home SAT would build on the organization’s experience over the past year of delivering the SAT digitally in schools in several states and districts. While the idea of at-home SAT testing is new, digital delivery of the test is not.

Students who registered for the June test and those in the high school class of 2021, who do not have SAT scores, will have early access to register for the tests in August, September and October, if they can be held.

"For each administration, the organization is preparing to significantly expand its capacity for students to take the SAT as soon as schools reopen," the press release says. "The College Board is calling on member schools and colleges, as well as local communities, to open their doors and provide additional test center capacity so every student who wants to can take the SAT."

It's worth noting that some colleges and universities already have announced that they plan to not require SAT or ACT scores for admittance next year — and even longer — because of the pandemic, according to The Washington Post.

“Our commitment to students is to give them as many opportunities as we can to show their strengths to admissions officers, while relying on the guidance of public health officials,” Coleman said in the press release. “Throughout, we’ll continue to place a special focus on students benefiting from fee waivers and those requiring accommodations.”

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