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Below are some thoughts on topics that students and parents often ask. Before making a decision you should consult various resources (teachers, tutors, guidance counselors, college counselors, college admissions offices, etc.) as appropriate. The topics and my opinions about them are generic, and may not apply very well to your specific situation.

Perhaps your best bet for taking a standardized test during coronavirus

Unfortunately, at this point in time chaos reigns in the standardized testing world.  Schools are making last minute decisions about closing even though they agreed to host the test and the registration databases for ACT and SAT do not show cancellations promptly (students sometimes arrive at a school only to find a sign in the window saying the school has closed).  Students and parents are frantically telephoning (with long wait times, in the end getting people who cannot help them), attempting to register with systems that are slow or unavailable or have inaccurate information, and traveling way beyond their communities in the hope of taking a test.

In addition to whatever steps you are taking to get yourself an opportunity to test, I suggest you start a campaign to lobby your school to host standardized tests that are open only to the students who attend your school. 

In the ACT world this is called District Testing (see https://www.act.org/content/act/en/products-and-services/the-act-educator/states-and-districts.html ) and in the SAT world this is called School Day Testing (see https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/sat/k12-educators/sat-school-day ). 

For either test what happens is that your school hosts a standardized test that only students enrolled in your school can take.  For the school, this is desirable because fewer seats would typically be needed and the school knows what precautions their students and local families are supposed to be taking during the time leading up to the test.  It eliminates risks associated with out-of-town students and their families possibly increasing local infection rates.  Of course the school would also receive much praise from the community they are serving.

So get started with an email campaign to your school administrators to host an enrolled-students-only test.  If you do not know who the best person to reach might be, check with your guidance or principal’s office.

Richard CornComment