404: SAT Not Found

Soha Shah • January 15, 2025

The idea that some students would feel obligated to take the SAT out of state raises questions about the importance of the SAT in the college admissions process. The SAT is a standardized test used to measure a student’s general academic abilities before college, as a baseline from which United States colleges can compare all students (CollegeBoard). However, not all students take the SAT because it is not required for all schools, and others may have only taken it if they had had the means to travel for it. Students who did not sign up early enough to secure a testing spot close to home often end up taking the SAT out of state.

Signing up to take the SAT, which is administered seven times a year, involves a fee and selecting an available testing center to take it at (CollegeBoard). Spots generally fill up fast across California, as students sign up months in advance. When the closest testing spot is in another city or out of state, a student may simply sign up and travel, given the importance of the standardized testing in many colleges’ admissions processes. Whether or not it is because of less demand for the SAT, it is difficult to secure a testing spot in California which causes students to go out of state (Los Angeles Times). This can be an economic barrier for many, as some students do not have the means to travel for their test. Senior Aarna Veera wanted to take the SAT in October, but the only spot available was in Las Vegas, Nevada.

"I wanted to make my score better, [and] I had the opportunity because my family was supportive and able to drive me there to take it," Veera said. "California is one of the most competitive states, and we have some of the best schools and students. I feel like other states have spots open because the population is lower [there] or because not a lot of students [there] take [the SAT], but [in] California, there should be way more testing spots. We have students who need to take this test.”

Although the difficulty of finding a spot can contribute to test anxiety, CollegeBoard, the SAT’s administrator, seems to have a strong commitment to a less stringent test taking schedule. With the introduction of the new digital SAT format in March of 2024, College Board aimed to "offer much more flexibility in terms of when, where and how often the SAT is given" (CollegeBoard). College Board champions this digital test as a higher quality and more accessible experience for students than a typical pencil and paper test (CollegeBoard). The switch to digital test-taking has resulted in the shortening of passages in the Reading and Writing section and the addition of a calculator program for the Math section. Furthermore, CollegeBoard has adopted an adaptive testing format, which gives students either easy or difficult testing modules based on their performance on the previous module (CollegeBoard). This raises some questions about whether the SAT is truly standardized, as a standardized test is typically administered in the same way for everyone who takes it.

The legitimacy of the SAT as a standardized test may be questioned if it becomes significantly more difficult for some to take the test than others. Students have expressed concerns over having to travel far to the SAT as an aspect of the test that makes it unfair. Test scores are sent to colleges during the fall semester of a student's senior year, which means that if a student does not sign up for the SAT until their senior year has already begun and wants to take the SAT in October as one of their last chances, they might be forced to travel to another city for a spot. Senior Benjamin Rautman signed up to take the SAT in October in Phoenix, Arizona.

“It is annoying that California, a bigger state, doesn't offer enough testing sites for students," Rautman said. “[The fact] that we have to go out of state [to take the SAT] I think [is] just messed up. The stress of going out of state definitely takes a toll on a student's [performance], and it definitely did for me."

The idea that there is a disproportionate amount of testing spots in California because standardized testing is losing significance is less likely given the fact that the students go out of state to take the SAT because of how important submitting a score is to them. It can be speculated that University of California schools adopting test-blind policies is a causation of the limited availability of the test in California, however this is less likely because the SAT is not losing relevance. Testing sites do simply shut down. On the CollegeBoard website there is a page for students to look up their testing site and find out if it has been closed.

It makes sense for an organization whose mission is to help students get into college to want students to keep taking and passing their standardized tests, and CollegeBoard does notify students when new spots open in their areas, encouraging them to sign up immediately if they want to take the SAT. For some, the SAT is elusive, and CollegeBoard seems to intend to remedy this. Junior Ryan Lo signed up to take the SAT in Phoenix, Arizona, and he explains that he possibly could have taken it closer to home.

"I was originally going to take it in November but my mom wanted me to do it in August,” Lo said. “So she registered for me to take it in Arizona and then we went to see our family there. I was planning on doing it at Redondo Union High. If I was a senior, it would have been out of necessity. If you plan it well ahead of time, you'll be able to take it near you."

Whether the limited availability of testing centers is indicative of the SAT’s diminishing significance or whether it is CollegeBoard’s fault, as long as there are students who want to get into test optional or test required schools, there will be opportunities to take the SAT, however limited they are.