When college applications are due, there is always something that colleges look at. High school seniors submit their SAT scores to CollegeBoard for a better chance of getting accepted. There is however, a problem with the SAT where seating administered for students that require them immediately is absent when there should be some prioritization in place.
The SAT is a standardized test used in the holistic view of an applicant for admission into universities in the U.S. As such, high school seniors need to take it before the due date of college applications so it may apply to their record.
There is no age limit or requirement for students to take the SAT, but this poses a difficulty that becomes more glaring as the deadline for submissions approaches: There is simply not enough space for everyone who desires to take the SAT during college app season.
Speaking from my own experience, it was difficult to set up a date to take the SAT if a reservation wasn’t made months in advance and some of the available spots would already be taken by junior year students (prepexpert.com). This can be seen through CollegeBoard’s SAT Test Center Search as within 25 miles of the Walnut area, not a single seat is currently available for the SAT scheduled in October. Within a 100 mile radius of the Walnut area, only two schools have seats free for students to take their SAT. As such, an example common in California is the lack of institutions willing to serve as testing locations and due to this, some students are being forced to go out of state to take the SAT.
As such, it is my firm belief that there should be priority given to high school seniors when considering who signs up for the SAT. One possible solution to this could be to separate seniors taking the SAT entirely or to simply provide them with a day earlier to reserve a seat for the test. Committing to the latter should allow for seniors to register for the SAT before other grade levels, prioritizing them over others and thereby resolving the problem. Overall, this should provide enough leeway to already stressed seniors when planning to take their tests.
