In the previous school years, juniors took the SAT in Davenport Gym. However, many students had complaints about the testing environment.
This year, juniors will take the SAT in classrooms, along with underclassmen taking the PSAT at the same time. With this change, all tests will also be taken digitally.
Seniors are allowed the day off, because classrooms will be used as the SAT and PSAT testing areas.
College and career counselor Emma Lane has made plans to change the testing area so students are more comfortable taking the SAT.
“We will do all the testing on April 2, and students will be split into groups,” Lane said. “They will be in different hallways in a classroom setting.”
With testing being in Davenport Gym, students had complaints of the testing environment being uncomfortable. The temperature and ambient noise were distracting to students.
“My feedback from students is that many disliked testing in Davenport,” Lane said. “Especially students who take testing seriously, they don’t like testing in the gym (due to) everything from the lighting to the amplified noise,”
To ensure that students are comfortable, Lane has developed a plan to allow students to test in a more familiar environment.
“Juniors for the SAT, sophomores for PSAT-10 and freshmen for PSAT-9, will each be contained to a separate hallway,” Lane said. “It will follow closely to advisory assignments. Those students should be with their homeroom teacher. We hope it will provide students with familiarity. They’re with a teacher, who they know, and in a classroom setting. That (should) take away some of the nerve of taking an important test.”
With this focus on comfort, students are expected to have higher scores.
“I think it will correlate to higher test scores,” Lane said. “That is a big reason why I wanted to do it this way, because I think testing environments have a lot to do with how students do on a test.”
Students believe that this change will benefit them more compared to testing in Davenport.
“I’d say I’ll be more comfortable since we’re in classrooms everyday as opposed to us all being in Davenport,” Junior Kaitlyn Wiman said.
There is, however, a worry of potential internet issues. There is natural worry of whether students will be prepared and the internet capacity will be supportive.
“If students are not responsible with their Chromebooks, that can be a major issue, which not only affects us, but affects the student,” Lane said.
It is important for students to plan ahead and bring a charged Chromebook, to ensure that students will be able to participate on the day of testing. Proctors will have a limited number of extra Chromebooks on hand.
“The digital format is definitely going to throw things at us that we’re trying to anticipate,” Lane said.
There is little worry about whether students will be confused about the program.
“Students are very familiar with computers, internet, and digital formats, so I think this format will be very comfortable for students,” Lane said.
A calculator will also be provided on the application itself to guarantee that proctors start the testing on time.
“[The test] is supposed to progress with you, so as you’re answering questions and you get them right, the degree of difficulty changes,” Lane said. “I hope it does a better job of assessing a student’s capabilities and where they are in their educational progress.”
With this digital process, students should be expected to receive scores much sooner than the paper-pencil version.
“I think it’ll be a lot quicker having the digital process,” Lane said. “I foresee us to have scores very quickly. We’re not waiting for USPS to come pick up boxes (or) run reports. I think digitally, when you hit submit, those scores go.”
