The CollegeBoard and ACT organizations, which run the SAT and ACT international college entrance exams, respectively, announced Monday that they will be canceling future testing dates due to the coronavirus (COVID-19). 

Both CollegeBoard and ACT will provide full refunds to students who have signed up for these dates and are currently sending emails to students and parents with additional information. 

The March 14 SAT was not administered countrywide in 17 countries, with approximately 150 testing centers closed in the United States due to recommendations to avoid public gatherings that could potentially transmit the virus. Students whose testing centers were canceled were told to sign up for the March 28 and May 2 testing dates depending on their location, which have since been canceled as well. 

CollegeBoard has not yet canceled the June 6 SAT date and is continuing to evaluate if it will be a safe option based on the continued spread of COVID-19.

Coppell High School junior Tejas Kamtam signed up for the March 14 SAT date at Newman Smith High School in Carrollton and the April 4 date for the ACT, both of which were canceled. 

“Postponing is more beneficial than just canceling it,” Kamtam said. “At least what the ACT is doing is allowing students to have an option. For a lot of students that haven’t taken the ACT or SAT yet or those that want to improve their score, if you just take out an SAT and say ‘we might add a new one’, it’s going to be really troublesome for students to try to improve or get a score.”

Students planning to take the ACT on April 4 have the opportunity to reschedule their test to the June 13 or July 18 date. In an email to students and parents sent out today, ACT Customer Care states that a registration fee is required to sign up for another date, but ACT will fully refund it within 3-5 business days. 

Those who wish to sign up for the June 13 ACT date are advised to log in to their accounts and make the change by May 8 and those who wish to take the July 18 test need to sign up no later than June 19. Students can also contact ACT directly by June 19 if neither date works for them for additional assistance. 

ACT is adding more testing centers and increasing the capacity of others to allow more people to test on these dates, and as a result the number of spots will be increasing. 

“I would say [the cancellations] negatively impact me because they limit my options for the number of times I can take the tests,” Kamtam said. “I would have been more relaxed and less nervous if I knew I had more options to take the SAT and ACT if I didn’t do so well. But also, it helps me in a way because I have more time to study if I feel I’m underprepared.”

CollegeBoard is also responsible for administering exams for Advanced Placement (AP) classes in May. The organization stated on its website Monday that it is developing a plan that would allow students to take AP exams at home if the virus is still a danger in May, and that an update will be provided by March 20. 

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