Photos courtesy of Lia Lev
June 11, 2024 update:
College Board just sent out a notification to all June 2024 Oakland test-takers, rescheduling their exams to this upcoming Saturday on June 15 at the San Francisco Hilton Union Square hotel. In their email to all of those students, College Board noted, “We know your test center had a Wi-Fi issue during the June 1 SAT® administration that may have impacted your testing experience. We understand this was an incredibly difficult situation for students who worked hard to prepare for the test, and we apologize.”
Over 2,000 students lined up along the block of the Oakland Marriott City Center hotel this weekend to take their long-awaited digital Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), but more than 1,000 of them emerged from the testing center without solving a single problem. Even after several hours of waiting in the large hall, their tests were canceled due to Wi-Fi issues.
To take the exam, students had to connect to the College Board’s custom Wi-Fi network. While the nearly 400 students on the hotel’s second floor successfully connected to the network and completed their tests, the 1,400 students assigned to the first floor could not.
With no completed exam and their morning down the drain, many of these students left the testing center frustrated and stressed.
“Everyone was pretty mad. Every time they announced that the Wi-Fi was still delayed, everyone started booing,” said junior Addison Youngblood. Even when some students were connected, they were not allowed to start the test unless all test-takers were linked to the Wi-Fi—which never happened.
Another cause of frustration was the unorganized and slow collection and distribution of cell phones. “To get our phones back, they called names one by one. There were around a thousand people there. It was the worst thing I’ve ever seen,” Youngblood said.
“They put them all in a bucket, and I was worried someone might steal my phone,” said junior Lia Lev, who was also at the Oakland site.
Over a dozen M-A students woke up early to drive up to Oakland to take their SAT, but they weren’t the only ones who dealt with these issues. Many students had flown in from out-of-state or had driven long distances and were staying in Oakland overnight.
SATs are notoriously difficult to book, especially for students in the Bay Area. Lev was denied entry into her May SAT because her entry ID was wrinkled, and then had to work hard to schedule another one. “I struggled to schedule this test because everything was full. I think I only got it because somebody probably just pulled out. But I remember three months ago, I was looking for slots for June, and there were none.”
“I felt pretty mad because I already had to reschedule my March SAT for a sports event, and I rescheduled this and then it still didn’t end up working,” Youngblood said.
It was the worst thing I’ve ever seen.
Addison Youngblood, junior
This isn’t the first time the Digital SAT—which debuted this March—has shown its limitations due to technical difficulties. Technical issues with the PSAT browser led to school-wide cancellations in some campuses across the country back in October.
“I already didn’t like College Board before, but now this just confirms that they’re just not a good company,” Youngblood said with a laugh.
“I’m just disappointed and mad that it had to come to this,” Lev said. “College Board has such a monopoly on the American school system. If that doesn’t change, it at least needs to get better.”
