Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School is providing a free, in-school SAT day on Wednesday, March 5 during first and second period for all juniors. Students will be automatically registered and can submit their scores to up to five schools once scores are released.

The test will be held in the 1500s building and proctored by teachers during the time of the test. Classes in the building will be displaced to various classrooms and room assignments for testing will be posted in advance.

Students will arrive and take 20 minutes to complete the digital readiness check. The SAT will start around 8:00 a.m. and will take two hours and 14 minutes, ending at 10:15 or 10:30 a.m. at the latest.

The State Department of Education in Florida pays for all juniors to take the SAT at a discounted rate and the bill goes to Broward County so that students do not have to pay registration fees.

Scores are expected to come out about two weeks after the SAT is taken. Students can use their College Board accounts to submit scores to their selected colleges.

In preparation for the SAT, English teachers with junior students have been practicing SAT modules to help their students understand the material on the test.

“Something that we’ve done in my English classes is to do the practice test and we go over the answers to explain why the wrong answers are wrong,” English teacher Coral Bachen said. “Another thing we do is some warmup questions with grammar skills and then make sure that we do a little mini lesson if a lot of students are getting them wrong.”

Students also have access to free in-school SAT prep every Saturday from 9-10 a.m., which goes over the English portion of the exam. During the first semester, SAT prep for the math portion was also available every Saturday from 9-10 a.m.

“We do actual SAT practice tests, we go over the grammar rules and there’s information on ideas, there’s an expression of ideas section, craft and structure and then they have their standing preventions,” English teacher Cynthia Beach said. “It makes sure that the students are prepared with all four sections and for the types of questions that are asked.”

The test was recently changed to an online adaptive format last year, meaning that if students do well on the first module then the test will adapt and either give them a more difficult module or an easier one. The passages have also become shorter for the reading section, going from 750 words per passage to 150, with each passage going along with one question instead of a set of questions.

If students have extra time per accommodations, they may continue to the next section without waiting for the full time, as long as the standard time has expired.

“I think I’m prepared for the SAT because of the Khan Academy prep work that I’ve been doing and some other studying on the side,” junior Katie Frost said.

On the day of the exam, students have the opportunity to sign out afterwards if they have submitted the early sign out form, but it will count against the 10-10-10 rule.

In future years, MSD will continue providing the test for students and giving them opportunities to take it for free and be college ready.