NEARLY 150 TESTING centers in the U.S. canceled their administration of the SAT college entrance exam to students as planned for March 14 – the latest interruption to American life caused by the coronavirus.
The administration of the SAT is also canceled countrywide in 17 countries, including places like China, Italy, Japan, South Korea and the United Arab Emirates.
It’s unclear how many of the closures in the U.S. listed on the College Board’s web site are directly related to the coronavirus since testing centers can also close for various other reasons, like facilities issues or a conflicting event.
But the list more than doubled from Tuesday, when the College Board listed 72 sites that had canceled the SAT, to Thursday morning, when it listed 148. A spokeswoman for the College Board said it was safe to assume that nearly all the most recent cancelations are directly related to the virus.
Out of the listed closures, 84 direct students to different testing centers to take the SAT, 26 list new testing dates or note that a new date will be posted soon, and 38 say they have no plans to reschedule the test.
Students who do not end up taking the exam will receive a refund, the College Board said.
The College Board did not provide an estimate of how many students would be impacted by the cancelation. The March SAT is typically administered to juniors in high school who often take the test again in the late summer or fall before applying to college.