After Oakland SAT Debacle, Student Petitions East Bay High School to Host Test

After a last-minute cancellation at an SAT testing site in Oakland sent about 1,400 students scrambling over the weekend, one student is petitioning her high school to host the exam.

The test debacle comes as students across the Bay Area have already been scrambling to find seats to take the SAT this year, with many students traveling multiple hours to take the test, which is still required for some college admissions.

“I was hoping to take (the SAT) for college applications and potential scholarships and internships later,” said Emily Wagner, a junior at Granada High in Livermore, who started the petition. She has since had to reschedule that test for August. “It’s really hard for a lot of people to get slots, which is why I’m hoping that my school will open up their campus for the SAT.”

Wagner was one of hundreds of students sent home from Saturday’s SAT at the Oakland Marriott City Center Hotel after a Wi-Fi problem prevented the all-digital test from happening. Students were admitted to the exam around 7:45 a.m. After nearly three hours of Wi-Fi issues, which failed to connect students to the exam, students were sent home around 11:15 a.m., she said.

She said she started the petition to host a make-up test at her own school because finding access to a testing site has been incredibly difficult.

“The test is seemingly not going to be rescheduled, which I believe is quite unfair, and it will be …extremely difficult for most of those students to find a testing center to take the SAT at the next available date, August 24,” Wagner wrote in an email sharing the petition with school peers over the weekend.

The petition is so far limited to students at Livermore and Granada high schools, and as of Monday morning, one day after it went live, it had 30 signatures, according to Jennafer Wagner, Emily’s parent.

Students across the Bay Area are scrambling to secure SAT and ACT test seats this year as the number of testing sites in California dropped significantly after the COVID-19 pandemic. That’s due to several factors, including the test being entirely online for the first time this year and some sites have struggled to transition to the digital format.

Campuses like the University of California also no longer require the standardized test to apply, making some high schools less incentivized to host it. However, some private schools and Ivy League universities, such as Harvard, have since reversed their stance on standardized testing and are now requiring it again for applications.

With around half of the number of testing sites operating this year compared to just before the pandemic, students who do still wish to take the test have had to travel hours to find open seats at testing centers.

“The combination of being unable to offer enough seats to students and then failing to successfully administer the exam is directly harmful to Bay Area students,” Nate Slater, whose 11th-grade son was at the Oakland Marriott exam, wrote in an email. “It puts them at a disadvantage when applying to any university that requires the SAT.”

The issue has been particularly challenging for students who say they can’t afford to stay in a nearby hotel to get a good night’s sleep before an early morning test or who have to wake up hours before the exam to drive there.

The College Board, which administers the SAT, acknowledges that demand for the test is outstripping capacity across the Bay Area this year.

“Student demand has exceeded capacity for SAT Weekend administrations in California’s Bay Area because of a shortage of high schools and other institutions willing to serve as SAT Weekend test centers,” a spokesperson for the College Board said in an email.

To address the issue, the College Board contracted with an outside vendor this year to set up exams at high-capacity test centers such as hotels and convention centers, adding approximately 6,000 seats in the Bay Area. That included the canceled test at the Oakland Marriott.

“We know this was an incredibly difficult situation for students who worked hard to prepare for the test. We deeply apologize to all affected students,” the spokesperson wrote.

Students impacted by Saturday’s exam cancellation will receive a full refund for the test, according to the College Board.

However, limited spaces to take the test continue to be an issue. In August, Wagner plans to travel to a test site almost eight hours away in Henderson, Nevada, a small city near Las Vegas — the closest site she found available for the upcoming August test date.

“A lot of students can’t afford to travel hundreds of miles away to take the test somewhere else,” Wagner said. “There is a very limited window of time for college applications, and a lot of places are really, really full already.”

This story includes reporting from KQED’s Sara Hossaini. This story has been updated.