PSAT to be administered during school hours

This year, students who are taking the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test (PSAT) have to deal with more than just an entirely new test.

In addition to the changes that have been made to the PSAT itself to match the redesigned SAT, the timing and coordination of the exam have also changed due to conflicts with religious holidays, according to College Board’s website.

This year, College Board has decided that the PSAT will be administered on two Wednesdays only, Oct. 14 and 28, the latter of which is the date Saratoga High students will take the test to avoid conflicts with Homecoming, which occurs during the week of Oct. 12.

In previous years, the PSAT was available to schools on either Wednesday or Saturday, and the school always administered it on a Saturday.

However, instead of scheduling one test day on Wednesday and one on Saturday this year, it was decided that both days be Wednesdays, because, as reported by College Board, over the years schools have often asked to conduct the test on a second Wednesday instead of the one assigned.  

According to College and Career Center coordinator Bonnie Sheikh, this is the first year that the school has had to administer the PSAT on Wednesday.

“A lot of the schools in the area — some of the private schools — have done it on Wednesday,” Sheikh said. “It’s up to the school to do the logistics in figuring out how and when to do it, but we have always done it on Saturday.”

The specific scheduling of the test day is still being discussed; no time has been confirmed. Students will be made aware of the schedule when the logistics are finalized.

Although Saturday testing will be back in 2016, the benefit of Wednesday testing is that it is guaranteed to be taken only during the school day; students will have few or no extracurricular or family conflicts.

“The only conflict people could have is school time instead of their weekend activities,” junior Gillian Grant said. “We will be missing only two classes that day but we are excused from those classes because of the test. I don't think it will be too bad.”