Is your SAT exam cancelled from Coronavirus?
If you’re reading this, then you, like thousands of other students and parents, probably recently found out that the March SAT isn’t happening in your area. Or maybe you aren’t sure whether or not your testing center is closed or not. You might have some questions around what happens next (and what to do if your SAT has been cancelled). Below are answers to some frequently asked questions that we’ve seen floating around.
Don’t see your question answered below? Email hello@everydae.com and we’ll add your Q&A to the list.
Is my city affected? How will I know?
Right now, the only country-wide cancellations that have occurred have been for international test-takers. As of the publication of this article, the College Board is reporting that tests in Azerbaijan, Bahrain, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, El Salvador, Georgia, Greece, Iraq, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Mongolia, the State of Palestine, Paraguay, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, and the United Arab Emirates have been affected. For an updated list, check out the College Board’s website here.
In addition, some testing centers in the US will be closed due to school and state-wide cancellations. Because these cancellations are happening on a school-by-school basis, it’s best to check at the College Board’s site here to see if your testing site has been affected.
Remember that the College Board website isn’t being updated in real time, however. They are also sending out emails directly to parents and students about test cancellations, so make sure that you check your email as well.
When will I be able to make up the SAT?
Update 3/16/2020: The College Board has announced that the May administration of the SAT will be cancelled and that all registered students for May will get a refund. All March make-up exams were also cancelled. As of today, the June exam is still scheduled to occur.
If your test was scheduled during a school day in the US, it’s likely that it’ll be administered once school is back in session, although at this point we don’t have confirmation of this one way or the other.
In some areas, testing centers have closed and there simply aren’t enough seats for all the students who were already registered. If your test has been cancelled, you will receive notice (and a refund) from the College Board.
International students: right now the College Board is operating under the assumption that the August international test will still be administered. This is likely the next date you’ll be able to take the test.
For US students: if your registration was cancelled, your best bet is to go ahead and register for the June SAT.
I need the SAT for admissions/scholarships/other. What do I do?
Colleges and scholarship groups likely already know about changes to SAT administrations. But the best thing to do is to reach out directly and let the point of contact for the school or scholarship know about your situation. At worst, you’ll look like you’re being proactive about your education. At best, they’ll give you some information about what you should be doing in the meantime.
To find their contact information, your best bet will be to look directly on the admissions website or scholarship website. Remember to make your email professional and polite!
What about April school day SAT? The May and June SAT?
Update: As of 3/16/2020, the May SAT has been cancelled. The College Board has announced that registered students will get their registration fees refunded.
Right now, we aren’t sure how long it will be until things get back to normal. Our advice would be to go ahead and register for the exam in June and study as if you’re planning to take whatever test you’re signed up for. Make sure to check with the College Board as we get closer to test day to make sure that the administration hasn’t been cancelled.
What do I do now?
If your test has been cancelled, the bad news is that there’s nothing you can really do about it. The good news, however, is that if you weren’t feeling completely ready, you have some extra time to improve! Since you were planning on taking the SAT this weekend anyway, this might be a good weekend to take a practice test. Use it as a way to figure out what you need to study the most. Then dedicate at least ten (but preferably a little more) minutes a day to improving on those topics. If you’re looking for some extra study materials, come join us over at Everydae.
I feel like I’m ready for my SAT. Do I need to keep studying?
If you were already feeling ready for your test, great! Keep studying a little bit every day to keep your skills up, and look to fill in any holes you had in your preparation. You might even be in a position to keep pushing your goal score up a little higher. Whatever the case is, aim to spend at least ten minutes a day reviewing old concepts and solidifying any concepts you weren’t feeling 100% about.
How to improve your SAT score while you’re stuck inside:
If school is cancelled, that means that any test prep course or tutoring session most likely is too (or at least should be). But that doesn’t mean you can’t continue to improve your SAT skills. Everydae is available on any device with an internet connection. And we’re offering free access to our math content while schools are closed. Register here and we’ll send you instructions on how to activate your free account.
Here are a few reasons why Everydae is worth checking out:
- Students can study in as little as 10 minutes a day
- It feels like a game, not like a chore
- Built by Harvard and MIT grads with 17+ years of test prep experience
Lastly, if you’re nervous or upset about all of this, remember that everyone is in the same boat as you. The SAT can always be made up. Your health is priority number one right now.
This post was written by Laura Hubbard, Everydae’s Director of Academics. Laura has 10,000+ hours of tutoring and tutor-training experience. She was previously Director of Academics for the adaptive learning product ORION, directed curriculum creation at AJ Tutoring, and was a course writer at Chegg and manager at The Princeton Review.
Everydae is a self-paced digital tutor for high school students that makes studying bite-size and fun.
