Cancelled SAT and ACT tests

Mere2033

5-Year Member
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Sep 12, 2016
Messages
512
Hi, We're in California and just had another test cancelled on my DD. This time the ACT. The other option is to go out of state but with a full class load and extracurriculars it's really hard to make the long trip. Anyone else dealing with this issue?
 
Well I know people last year were dealing with it. If your DD is applying for the c/o 2026 I would recommend she wait it out and try to take it over the summer. It doesn't look like COVID is going to last much longer.
 
Hi, We're in California and just had another test cancelled on my DD. This time the ACT. The other option is to go out of state but with a full class load and extracurriculars it's really hard to make the long trip. Anyone else dealing with this issue?
Hello there! I'm in the same situation as you here in Southern California. My SAT has gotten canceled twice already, one for the March 13th and the May 8th SAT. Hopefully I am able to take the June SAT. However, I do have to travel quite a ways from my area just to take it.
 
Well I know people last year were dealing with it. If your DD is applying for the c/o 2026 I would recommend she wait it out and try to take it over the summer. It doesn't look like COVID is going to last much longer.

Hello there! I'm in the same situation as you here in Southern California. My SAT has gotten canceled twice already, one for the March 13th and the May 8th SAT. Hopefully I am able to take the June SAT. However, I do have to travel quite a ways from my area just to take it.
Yes! Worried about the June 5th date now. My DD has had 6 cancelled on her. She's not a strong test taker so she was hoping to take it many times and super score. This just puts more pressure on all of you to get the needed score the first time around! She's traveling about 2 hours also. Nevada may be the next stop!
 
Well I know people last year were dealing with it. If your DD is applying for the c/o 2026 I would recommend she wait it out and try to take it over the summer. It doesn't look like COVID is going to last much longer.
Hope so!
 
My advice is to find a way to get a test in asap. Even if it means traveling more than 2 hours, day(s) off work etc. Especially if you have confidence of doing well on them based on the pre tests. No one knows if Covid cancels are going to get better in short term. There are several people on here that wished they had done so last year.
 
Yes! Worried about the June 5th date now. My DD has had 6 cancelled on her. She's not a strong test taker so she was hoping to take it many times and super score. This just puts more pressure on all of you to get the needed score the first time around! She's traveling about 2 hours also. Nevada may be the next stop!
I'm also not a strong test taker and I traveled over two hours to take mine. I highly believe usafa is taking this into account. You could also ask around to see if any friends are in an area where tests aren't being canceled and have her stay the night. We hosted a friend of mine who lived in another state.

I say stay the night because waking up at 4:30 did not help my math score at all (act math 24)
 
Hey guys! We are from SoCal too and had the same problem last fall. I’d suggest calling all the private/religious schools in your surrounding area to make sure their testing centers are open before registering. The Collegeboard is really bad at updating their website. We’ve had tests cancelled on the day of or days before without notification from them. You might have to travel a bit out of your neighborhood to a private or religious school for the test. We made the one hour drive for our daughter to take the SAT in November. A friend had to drive to San Diego for the ACT. BEST OF LUCK to you guys!

Ps, don’t register for a date if you are not sure it will work for you. We registered for the one in May for our daughter to improve her score. She ended up deciding on a school and didn’t need to take the test after all. Then I found out the Collegeboard is only refunding $10 to us when I called to cancel 😒.
 
This is giving me flashbacks of last year! It was so frustrating to have test after test cancelled. From WA we were prepared to fly to CA, drive to Idaho, basically whatever it took. DS definitely lucked out and ultimately found a test center in WA.

The worst part of the process was for DS to study many hours for a test that kept getting cancelled and virtually no option to retake the test due to the limited timeframe since it was late fall by the time the test was taken.

Really surprised this go around there are still so many cancellations. My advise is to monitor all available tests and be ready to register when something opens up. This became a weekly task and fortunately it worked out in the end!
 
My big concern is what happens when the nomination deadline approaches and there haven't been enough opportunities to take the test. One shot chance is nerve racking!
 
My son has accepted his appointment for the class of 2025. I put him on a plane to his grandparents twice in the fall after every test we signed him up for in California and Arizona got canceled. Flights were cheap at the time and I think it really paid off for him. He studied really hard and it showed. Fairlysure he would not have received an appointment without his SAT score.
 
I highly believe usafa is taking this into account. You could also ask around to see if any friends are in an area where tests aren't being canceled and have her stay the night. We hosted a friend of mine who lived in another state.
I live in NV, so I've heard of a lot of people from CA, AZ, and even someone from WA coming here to take ACTs/SATs. Once you find one here, no need to worry about them being cancelled since they haven't done so in several months. If you'd like I can look and see if there are any available here. We only have a couple testing centers here too, so probably why they fill up so fast.
 
This is a tough choice - ease of location and hope for testing to proceed, or you have to take the Neste Plunge and go all-in on OOS testing right now.

If the latter, come to a family agreement. Sign up for all testing that is realistic, wherever that may be. Allocate family spending to time off/plane tickets/travel/hotel if necessary. If she is not a strong test taker, then ask her how she will be prepared if it comes to a one-and-done. She should consider setting up her own mock SAT/ACT test days under testing conditions, as surrogates for real testing days. Then execute and do well on the actual test day. Channel the mentality and skill set of competitive ECs into academic testing. After all, state championships are a single opportunity. Someone comes away that weekend a state champion. No body of work or extenuating circumstances taken into account.

Work on CFA, Dodmerb, and civilian colleges. Has she got her 3-4 month training window for the CFA scheduled? Penciled in a testing date and confirmed her administrator? Find a sample of the Dodmerb questionaire and fill out a draft form, and address any issues now, getting ahead of the mass of C2026 candidates in the Fall. Plan your strategy to get the CFA and Dodmerb done/triggered during the summer. Then all the applications will feel more like civilian college apps. You can also begin a parent common app now and then all that tedius fill-in-the-blank will be very quick for her to move through when her actual common app opens. Find out your school's culture on college-ing. Do they assign recommenders, or will DD have to ask each one herself? Does the English department have essay reviews? If not, there is even more opportunity for DD to set up dates in late summer with her English teacher to review her essays and this also opens the dialogue for her SOEs/recommendations.
 
This is a tough choice - ease of location and hope for testing to proceed, or you have to take the Neste Plunge and go all-in on OOS testing right now.

If the latter, come to a family agreement. Sign up for all testing that is realistic, wherever that may be. Allocate family spending to time off/plane tickets/travel/hotel if necessary. If she is not a strong test taker, then ask her how she will be prepared if it comes to a one-and-done. She should consider setting up her own mock SAT/ACT test days under testing conditions, as surrogates for real testing days. Then execute and do well on the actual test day. Channel the mentality and skill set of competitive ECs into academic testing. After all, state championships are a single opportunity. Someone comes away that weekend a state champion. No body of work or extenuating circumstances taken into account.

Work on CFA, Dodmerb, and civilian colleges. Has she got her 3-4 month training window for the CFA scheduled? Penciled in a testing date and confirmed her administrator? Find a sample of the Dodmerb questionaire and fill out a draft form, and address any issues now, getting ahead of the mass of C2026 candidates in the Fall. Plan your strategy to get the CFA and Dodmerb done/triggered during the summer. Then all the applications will feel more like civilian college apps. You can also begin a parent common app now and then all that tedius fill-in-the-blank will be very quick for her to move through when her actual common app opens. Find out your school's culture on college-ing. Do they assign recommenders, or will DD have to ask each one herself? Does the English department have essay reviews? If not, there is even more opportunity for DD to set up dates in late summer with her English teacher to review her essays and this also opens the dialogue for her SOEs/recommendations.
Thank you for the great ideas. My oldest DD took the SAT 7 times before she got the score she wanted. That was her crazy way of studying. Now the younger one had the same plan but obviously that's not in the cards for her. Currently I'm administering a practice test for her every other weekend and then review the test on the off weekends. Next will be scheduling a test in another state!
 
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