Prospect SAT delayed by fire alarm

It was just a quiet morning at Prospect High on Oct. 6 when hundreds of students were taking their dreaded SATs when suddenly, the fire alarm was set off.

The fire alarm went off at around 9:15 a.m. Around 400 students evacuated their classrooms and waited outside for half an hour while the fire department inspected for possible causes of fire.

According to Prospect English teacher Gina Campanella, who was on campus during the SAT, the fire alarm went off as a reaction to low water pressure due to the construction going on around the school.

Even though the test was interrupted, the College Board did not cancel the scores, which were released to students on Oct. 25.

Although the fire alarm may have given extra time to rest for some students, most students, including seniors Eric Om and Cody Cai, were thrown off by the alarm.

“I was in the mode and I thought I was doing really well,” Om said. “But the fire alarm took me by surprise. I just stopped while everyone worked for the next minute before the instructor sent us out.”

For Cai, the alarm occurred while he was in the middle of a critical reading section.

“It definitely threw me off,” Cai said. “I was reading about dinosaurs when the fire alarm went off and my pencil flew out of my hand.”

Cai was upset by the distraction, especially since he made this SAT his last chance to do well.

“At first I thought my score would be cancelled,” Cai said. “And I was worried because this would be my last time to take the SATs before early decision for colleges was due.”

Om felt that he could have done better if he stayed focused.

“I was really annoyed because of how unfair the whole situation was. The key component of standardized testing is that everyone gets equal testing conditions, but an interruption for however long foils that,” Om said. “It’s important when you start off well and you maintain your momentum, but you lose that when your ears are blasted with the high shrills of an alarm.”

Senior Eric Martin didn’t mind the interruption, but was much more concerned with the fate of his scores.

“It was a nice break from the test taking, but at the same time it was kind of stressful because I didn't want College Board to cancel our scores,” Martin said.