EHS students and staff had to adjust to an “unexpectedly” disrupted schedule this week due to the junior PSAT, which had issues with communication and organization. 

The test, a practice exam for the SAT that qualifies students for scholarships, was taken on Tuesday and Wednesday by juniors who signed up. Students said the test didn’t go smoothly, and some said it negatively impacted their school day. 

According to some students who took the test, communication between College Board, the organization that runs the PSAT and SAT, and themselves about the exam was nonexistent.

“I did not receive any communication from the College Board at all,” junior Serena Caldarola said. “I often check my College Board [account] and email but never heard anything relating to the PSAT.”

Some students said the lack of communication negatively impacted their experience of the PSAT by limiting their preparation time to under a week and affecting their mindset on the exam.

“I didn’t study, period,” Caldarola said. “‘What’s the point of trying to cram when I’m probably not going to do well even if I did’… was pretty much my mentality going into the test.”

Like students, teachers had little information or notice about the PSAT. According to science teacher Julia Doll, teachers found out about the exam dates in an email last on Oct. 18, just four days before testing began. 

Teachers, especially those teaching AP classes, where many students were taking the PSAT, tried to accommodate for the absences by pushing back due dates and changing the schedule for the testing days. 

“I took a good hard look at [the PSAT schedule] and said, ‘Well, this is really hard on students who have to take a high-stakes test and then also have a research paper [due] for me,’” Mrs. Doll, who teaches AP Biology, said. “I don’t think it’s right if you’re taking this big, huge high stakes state test and then also require this to be due the very next day.”

Unlike the students who were unaware of the exam, others who took the test said they received information from College Board, including reminders about exam dates and study materials. 

While studying may have gotten students ready for the exam, they were unprepared for the problems occurring on the test days. According to juniors who took the exam, most of the issues were due to the school having the wrong information. 

“My sign in information was wrong because the birthdate was written incorrectly, so I spent from 7:10 [a.m.] to 7:50 [a.m.] in the John Davis Center doing nothing,” junior Kaan Demirer said. 

These issues only affected a few students, but led to the PSAT running longer than anticipated, which disrupted the schedule of students taking the exam, leading them to miss classes and need to make up work

“I missed the classes I shouldn’t have missed,” Demirer said. “As a student taking five AP [classes], this makes making up work a nightmare.”

Other students in AP classes said they weren’t happy with the instructional time they missed and the addition of makeup work to their workload. 

“I have been missing more school than usual this year and missing another day was not helping the mountain of schoolwork I had to do outside of what I missed,” Caldarola said. 

In response to the issues present both leading up to the PSAT and on the test days, students and teachers have expressed their need for better planning and more communication for next year’s exam.

“It can’t be fixed for this year, but it can be fixed for the future,” Mrs. Doll said.