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SAT / ACT Information
SAT and ACT Security Changes – Impact on Students
The College Board has announced sweeping security changes to the administration of the SAT as a response to some highly-reported and embarrassing instances of cheating in 2011. These changes will start with the October 2012 test date. ACT followed with an announcement of its own changes, but they do not appear to be as stringent as those for the SAT. Below is a summary of the major changes and how they will affect students.
SAT Changes
Registration: Students will be required to:
• Provide the name of their current attending high school during registration and submit a recent, recognizable photo during registration that will be included on a new photo admission ticket.
- Online registrations will require a digital photo.
- Mail-in registrations will require an enclosed photo with the paper registration form.
• Request location changes prior to test day. Test center changes will no longer be permitted on test day.
• Request test-type changes from SAT to SAT Subject in advance. Test-type changes will no longer be permitted on test day.
Test-Day: Students will be required to:
• Pre-register for the SAT and SAT Subject Tests. Standby (walk-in) testing will no longer be permitted.
• Test at the center designated on their admission ticket. Test center changes will no longer be permitted on test day.
• Present their photo admission ticket for admittance to their designated test center.
• Online registrations will still have printable admission ticket capability by logging onto College Board account.
• Mail-in registrations can choose to have the admission ticket mailed or emailed prior to test day.
Additionally:
Students arriving at the test center without both their photo admission ticket and an acceptable form of photo ID will not be admitted to the test center. The Test Center Supervisor rosters used to admit test-takers to the test center will include each test-taker’s name, date of birth, Gender, Test type and high school. Test center supervisors also will have access to a printable on-line register of the photos uploaded during registration for each student registered to test at that test center.
Test-takers will be subject to additional ID checks throughout test day. Test-takers will be required to present both their photo admission ticket and an acceptable form of photo ID:
• Upon entry and re-entry to the test center and to any test room, including following breaks
• At the completion of the test
Test-takers will be required to sign a more comprehensive certification statement on the SAT answer sheet acknowledging that engaging in impersonation could result in referral to law enforcement and prosecution.
ACT Changes
• Students will be required to upload their photo at the time they register.
• The uploaded photo will be printed on the student’s admission ticket and on the roster the testing staff use to check in students on the day of the test.
• On test day, testing staff will match the uploaded photo with the roster and the student’s ID.
• After testing, the uploaded photo will be available to the high school the student attends.
We will be monitoring announcements from ACT closely as well as scrutinizing the new registration process for 2012-2013 as soon as it opens. The Princeton Review will continue to keep our knowledge of the test up-to-the-minute, superior to that of our competitors and to flow our opinion of the test to our students and partner schools quickly.
What the Changes Mean for Students
Because this is the College Board, we expect the rollout for the first few administrations to go poorly. Looking into our crystal ball, here are some of the things we expect will happen:
There will be problems in October.
Who thinks that every student who goes to the SAT in October will remember to bring a photo ID? This rule alone will cause major headaches at many sites. Furthermore, at every site we’ve been to in the past, there are typically dozens of students attempting to either switch sites or tests (from SAT to SAT Subject). Since this will no longer be allowed, there will likely be some uninformed and unprepared people denied entry at many sites. Eventually, this will become more the norm and less of a surprise, but given that SAT administrations rarely went smoothly before, you can imagine what all of these new policies will mean on test day.
The proctors have new rules.
We know that the proctors and administrators of the SAT vary greatly from site to site, and even from room to room within a single site. We have seen many strange events during test administrations and many kinds of proctors. Counselors should prepare families that the experience for the October SAT will likely be more arduous and stressful than usual.
A long test day just got even longer.
Current administration of the SAT includes 3 hours 45 minutes of testing time, 15 minutes of breaks, and usually at least 1 hour of initial administration and bubble-filling. New security rules, especially the frequent ID checks and photo requirement could easily add another hour. Thus, a student who reports for the test at 7:45am might not walk out of the building until after 2pm.
And you thought your SAT experience was bad back in the day.
Ok, so taking the SAT in general is stressful. Everyone knows it and most of us remember it. Now, however, students will be subjected to unprecedented scrutiny before, during, and after the test. The atmosphere in some testing rooms is already very tense. Now, the proctors are going to be pressured to check IDs constantly and treat the entire day as a giant game of Find The Cheater. Any student who already is prone to test anxiety is going to have very real reasons to feel it.