Amid the current coronavirus pandemic, the College Board announced on Tuesday, April 16 that the June SAT will be canceled after previously reporting the cancellation of the May SAT. With over 2,181,043 confirmed cases and 145,457 deaths across 210 countries and territories as of April 16, students worldwide are participating in online schooling. 

Now that over 192 countries have declared the closure of schools and moved classes online, most students are staying isolated and socially distant in their own homes to stay as safe as possible from potentially catching and/or spreading COVID-19. In order to keep students safe and adhere to public safety guidelines, College Board decided that they would not administer the SAT or SAT Subject Tests on June 6, since this would require students to be close together and could very likely enable the disease to spread. Although many SATs are being canceled, College Board is looking into ways to give students that won’t be able to take their tests in the near future ample opportunities to take their tests later on in the year.

In the same announcement, the College Board also reported that “…if it’s safe from a public health standpoint, we’ll provide weekend SAT administrations every month through the end of the calendar year, beginning in August.” 

These dates include a new testing date in September, in addition to the previously scheduled tests on Aug. 29, Oct. 3, Nov. 7 and Dec. 5.

Students will be able to register for these exams beginning in May and the College Board will contact students directly when they determine the exact date of the September test.

College Board has prepared to increase the number of students that can take the SAT at each testing location when schools reopen in an attempt to give students missing SAT opportunities the chance to take the exam. They have additionally requested help from member schools, colleges and local communities to provide additional testing centers in order to aid this goal.

Students who are graduating in 2021 and have not taken the SAT yet are able to register early for the August, September and October exams. Additionally, students will receive refunds if they already registered for May testing and did not receive their March scores due to any irregularities and/or closures of certain testing centers for the March SAT.

The College Board previously announced in March that they would be unable to host the April PSAT for eighth, ninth and 10th graders. This means that there will no longer be opportunities for PSAT testing at all this spring.

College Board acknowledged that they understand that students are feeling uneasy about the abnormalities occurring in testing schedules this year.

“We know students are anxious about how the coronavirus crisis will affect their college application process, including taking the SAT,” College Board said in the same announcement as the June SAT cancellation .

College Board vowed to give students as many opportunities as they could to take the test so they can showcase their abilities as best as possible. 

If schools do not reopen in the fall, College Board will provide an online SAT that students will be able to take from home. This testing will be similar to how they plan on administering online AP exams to three million students in May. Just like the AP exams, College Board promises to counteract cheating by creating a simple, secure and fair test that will remain valid in college admissions.

Despite the closure of schools, free resources online such as review videos, practice tests and personalized learning tools are available through the College Board website, as a way to help prepare students for testing.

College Board recommends that students check their website often in order to be aware of updates on both the future SAT testing dates and AP exam details. They have also announced that additional questions can be answered if they are emailed to [email protected].